A Sojourning Wayfinder

Quarantine is ending for some of us. Some of us are now living under Safer at Home. The world is trying to put itself back together again and establish what the new normal will be. We’ve collectively had a world wide pause and yet I feel like life was still just as busy during the pause. (Should we be calling this The Great Pause or is that too dramatic?) Sure there was about a week, maybe two where things were not as busy but then people adapted. Groups kept meeting (virtually), work still happened for some, friends interacted. None of this is bad but I’m not sure what I’ve done with my pause. At the beginning of this, I bought some seed, containers and potting soil…. that project hasn’t happened. I haven’t tried to make French macaroons again. I’ve made bread, pizza dough, and cookies. I’m trying to make babka as I write this. I’ve read books; started a new Bible study; started writing another story. I haven’t finished watching  Legend of Korah or Supernatural . Other peopl...

For the Interim  Time When near the end of day, life has drained Out of light, and it is too soon For the mind of night to have darkened things, No place looks like itself, loss of outline Makes everything look strangely in-between, Unsure of what has been, or what might come. In this wan light, even trees seem groundless. In a while it will be night, but nothing Here seems to believe the relief of darkness. You are in this time of the interim Where everything seems withheld. The path you took to get here has washed out; The way forward is still concealed from you. "The old is not old enough to have died away; The new is still too young to be born." You cannot lay claim to anything; In this place of dusk, Your eyes are blurred; And there is no mirror. Everyone else has lost sight of your heart And you can see nowhere to put your trust; You know you have to make your own way through. As far as you can, hold your confidence. Do not allow confusion to squander This call which ...

Conflict happens in every relationship for every person. We can handle conflicts well or poorly. They can be big or small. It’s a time for growth and struggle. From a young age we’re taught how to handle conflicts but as we grow, those skills are refined, redefined, and evolve. Some better than others. At times even if we have learned new ways to handle conflict, the old ways surface abruptly. Why do I bring this up after talking about my Ireland trip last week? Because one of my friends and I had a conflict on that trip. One that brewed all week before it erupted. We tried addressing it before it became so bad but we didn’t resolve the issue at it’s heart. I try to cram as much as I can into a trip and she enjoys relaxing more so on trips. We both were stressed a bit since this was our first real overseas adventure. Our expectations for the trip were different.  Needless to say, words were said and the trip ended a bit tense for us. We both needed a cooling off period bef...

Welcome back! Let's continue on more Irish adventures. Day four was our Cliffs of Moher adventure. This was also our biggest driving day. We started the day off later than other days we had but we were all tired. We were at the cliffs quite a while in the early afternoon. There was a visitor’s center we explored along with the cliffs themselves. When you’re at the cliffs, there’s a couple different directions you can walk. Most things are on the right hand side including an unrestricted area that people came and go from all the time. The main section had a wall and some buildings to look over the cliffs from. The unrestricted section let you get right up to the edge and by sheep pastures (see the picture below). The cliffs were beautiful and breathtaking. It was nice to have space to walk around and not be stuck in a car. After we were done at the cliffs, we headed up to Galway. Our first night in Galway, we went to a restaurant that was in the process of the expanding...

Last fall a few of my friends and I took a trip across the pond during fall break. We were in Ireland for 7 whirlwind days. We successfully saw most of Ireland though we weren’t able to go north of Dublin and Galway.  Ireland is a beautiful country. It’s green and lush though there aren’t a lot of trees for the most part. When you’re driving you’ll see a lot of trees as hedges on both sides of the road which makes driving as an American an adventure because you’re driving on the wrong side of the road and visibility isn’t great. Oh and the speed limits seem off sometimes given how narrow the roads are. We had a wonderful driver, Jordan*, even if he struggled at stick shift sometimes. Our trip was based off a package we purchased through Great Value Vacations. It included our flights, hotels/B&Bs and our car. The hotels were set in stone based off the dates of our trip and we were able to select the B&Bs where we wanted to visit. The package helped us plan our trip ...

Life as we know it is changing because of Covid. What will it look like after this is all over? It’s hard to say while we’re waiting for the changes to get cemented and trying to find new and old things to do or try. It’s easy to turn on Netflix and binge a series. It’s hard to go through an entire room and find what can be gotten rid of. Our schedules are freer but we’re not free like normal and have to find other things to do than what we normally do. One thing I have enjoyed about doing social distancing is working remotely. I had done it previously for over a year and I loved it! When I took a new position, it meant I would be in the office. That meant I couldn’t have my music or an audiobooks on in the background. I use headphones some at work but I don’t like having them in my ears all day long. Since I can work remotely again, audiobooks are on the come back and reading in general. I’ve listened to 3 books so far because I haven’t had a lot of time or the attention span...

I’ve seen a recent uptake in bread making since people started isolating themselves. It’s amazing that taking the time to slow down has inspired people to try something new and a bit time consuming. I started making bread a little over a year ago all with the help of my friend Rick ‘Peter’ Peckenus. Who is Peter you ask? Well, he’s a growing boy who loves to help me make bread. Have you figured out what he is yet? If you guessed a sourdough starter, you’d be right! Sourdough is super easy to start and keep up. All you need is some flour, water and time. I followed King Arthur’s starter recipe (here’s the link ). There is a lot that you will need to discard during the set up weeks (or you can find someone who already has a starter and ask for some of theirs). Taking care of a starter is pretty easy too - you just need to feed it once a week if your starter lives in the fridge or if the starter lives on the counter you need to make sure to feed it every day. Typically, I’ve fed Pete...

Friday seems to be anything but good. For all the people who experienced it firsthand and saw the trial, the beatings, the mocking, the crowd, the cross and the death - there was nothing good about Good Friday. Knowing the rest of the story, you know there is good to come but pull back from the completed story; place yourself on the very first Good Friday. If you followed Jesus, everything is over. He was defeated and the world kept going. Miraculous things had happened on that day - the sun disappeared, there was a loud cry from heaven, the temple curtain was torn in half.  Yet the man so many people had placed their hope in was dead. The men who were closer to him than anyone had scattered and gone their own way. They were going back to life as they had known before him. They mourned for what they thought would be but now would not be. The hope they had gained over the last 3 years was  destroyed. Nothing happened in their expected ways. Jesus wasn’t supposed to die. He...

I am very fortunate to have two roommates who love games. They have about 80 games. Are there games we haven’t played before? Yeah there are but a goal for this year was to play all of their games. We’ve been slowly working through some of the game we’ve never played or it’s been a while since we’ve played them. The first weekend of the stay at home order, we played Alcatraz Rummy and appropriately Pandemic! Alcatraz Rummy is similar to normal rummy but you’re trying to expose the attempted escapees plan. I wasn’t that good at it but I enjoyed it. My favorite part of the night was playing Pandemic … on level six.  Ever since this whole thing started my roommates and I had been wanting to play because it seemed an apt time to. We did pretty dang good with this game - we only had two outbreaks, cured blue and won the game. Corporative games are some of my favorite because you’re working together with your ‘talents’ toward a common goal. It’s also nice that everyone either wins o...

A few weeks ago, I had a brilliant idea. What if instead of making just regular chocolate chip cookies, I added cinnamon? I asked a friend what she thought and she liked the idea.  I sat on the idea longer than I probably should have because at the time, my friends and I were going to Spain for a while. We were so excited and ready to go - buying all the extra activities we would do and just getting ready to go. Then Covid blew up over night. We watched what was happening and decided that depending on what happened, we would decided to go or not go a week before our trip. The next day, the U.S. restricted pretty much all travel to Europe. We were crushed and tried to plan another quick spontaneous trip but that one didn’t happen either. Since our vacations had gotten cancelled, I have had a lot more free time on my hands. Hence the time to try out cinnamon chocolate chip cookies. Before I made the cookies though, I needed to brave the store since we were running out of...

Everyone is on a journey. They all look different and similar; each as unique as another. Right now, we’re in a time where most of our journeys look pretty similar since we’re mostly all stuck at home right now. I bet you’re wondering what ‘sojourning wayfinder’ means. To sojourn is “to stay somewhere temporary” according to the Oxford dictionary.  A wayfinder is “a sign, landmark, or other indicator used to assist people in navigating to a particular location” also from the Oxford dictionary. I first heard these two words around the time Moana came out. The word sojourner came up in Genesis with Abraham (Genesis 23:4). Wayfinding came into play when I watched Moana since this is how the ancient Polynesians traveled the Pacific ocean.  I love the combination of these words because it’s what life is — a temporary journey as we get closer to our journey’s goal. Together  they remind me that while I feel that I am in a disorienting empty space (like the middle of the o...