Return from Exile

Spring Break is over...tear...flick!

In one sense, I am relieved...its hard picking up in the middle of family life again. I have been away for so long that so much has changed, the life of the family as I knew it has changed to much. Many things remain the same...its the little things. Like the cooking spoons and the new place for the pots, or where the toilet paper is kept. My family seems to be permanently in a state of flux...while everything remains the same, nothing is ever exactly as I left it the time before. It is also nice to get back to the post turn-of-the-millennium society having been banished to the post "turn-of-the-century" culture on the farm (i.e. I did not have Internet).

But now it is back to the grindstone of seminary life...studying and constantly working on oneself in order to allow the Spirit to create a new person in me everyday. I also miss my family and my community. Everything about home is so dear to my heart, the people, the land, the history, the culture, it all calls out to me every time I leave and forever I hear the soft call to return. I cannot wait until I am ordained (God help me!) so that I can settle down in a parish and can remain at home. No rest for the weary traveler pursuing knowledge!