I think that I have been complaining far too much about my chaplaincy this summer. I have much to be thankful for in it.



Picking up photos that by now are quite old, I realize looking through them that I am especially thankful for my wife. She is wonderful: witty (see above photo), thoughtful, industrious. She is a good writer and a great cook. I am no philistine in the kitchen, but my wife has culinary experience & imagination much richer than my own. She is attentive to detail where I am too lost to pay much attention; she is the science-minded foil to my theo-poetic abstraction. She has good taste and a critical eye. Plus, I think that she is absolutely gorgeous.

These past weeks have been a nice respite to a terrible last semester, when we hardly ever saw each other. Without that busyness, I have laughed & relaxed more with her. It feels like someone long absent has returned.

Looking at pictures from our trips to the Blue Ridge, I am excited about what this next year holds. We will be much closer to our beloved camping & hiking trips. I will be doing full-time work as a vicar, the next step towards actually becoming a pastor. I hope that time away from the academic overload and the scattered focus that's attendant with that life will be good. I will have one job, not five classes to contend with, plus extra part-time work. We will both be able to walk to work!

All this to say, I can't wait for internship and the opportunity to spend more time with my beloved wife.