Checking Things Off the List

Went out to happy hour with my old co-workers and R. last night. Roger or Rachel asked me how my days have been this week not coming to work, I looked at them and down the table and asked "Honestly?"

"It's been Awesome!"

And it has.

It really has. I've been hitting the Ibuprofen pretty hard after some doctor and dentist appointments I'm trying to cram in before the end of the month, but I've also been hitting the yoga studio and neighborhood coffee shops. Sitting side by side and talking with R. in the dark holding hands and catching up with each other.

I had lunch with Pastor D. on Tuesday and when our food came I asked if we could just have some silence. So we held hands across the table and bowed our heads. We sat there for a bit and when we raised our heads and grabbed our chopsticks he said "been to see Suzanne lately?" I answered "yes, just this morning." "I can feel her, the air is thick. Mmhm." I watched how our conversation slowed down and the topic changed. We sat there for almost two hours together.

I feel like that inside - slowed down, daily topics and concerns changing, and I feel grateful. So grateful for this time. And that Life waited for me to get here. Unafraid and pretty damn confident that the change I'm making is right for me and for the project I was working on and the office and profession I'm leaving. I pray I left well and I think I did. Love those people.

So the rest of September looks a lot like this week more health appointments and getting things in place for the coming months. I applied for catastrophic health coverage, wrote and asked my allergist to prescribe me a back up inhaler, did some neglected personal e-mail clean up and follow up, etc.

October will be focused on getting some things in place for what's ahead (resume, etc) and tending to some retreat leading commitments, and continuing to slow down.

November is a Pilgrimage month. I'm heading to the other coast to see and spend some slow time my best friend and her love at their new home on the Cape. I'll work my way west towards Michigan stopping a couple other places along the way to visit other friends in new places. And then time with my mom and my stepdad, my dad, and perhaps some others in the Great Lake state.

December is a cast the net wide month. Not to mention Advent Season, more sitting still in the dark, catching up with my tradition and my community here, and the world.

Well, I just got the closing in 5 minutes warning. I guess I'll go now.

Real quick - I'm reading a book I'm LOVING right now called Sabbath by Wayne Muller. Highly recommend.

Love to you all,

Em