Monday, June 02, 2008

Summer!

It has been SO nice to focus on people and matters outside my fairly self-absorbed space of the past year.

My spiritual director made his final vows as a Jesuit on Saturday, so the Lovely Daughter and I went to the mass. It takes at least twelve years to get from first day to final vows in the Society of Jesus, no matter what you've done before you get started -- in his case, an M. Div, and then many years as a parish priest. It's pretty cool to observe the solemnity (and humor) with which the Jesuit community marks a man's final and most complete commitment to membership in its ranks.

A friend of mine, a religious studies professor, had asked a small group of people to serve as first readers on a book manuscript he's working on, and so Sunday three of us got together to discuss its current manifestation. Another process of coolness -- to be a tiny part of a book in the making.

Tonight I've just returned from a lengthly planning meeting for my own church's adult ed program for next year. My days of chairing that enterprise are behind me but I still get to participate. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity, because as a group we are way up there on the imagination-ometer, if I say so myself.

And . . . I started CPE today. The hospital has 35,000 employees and covers I don't know how many city blocks. Enough that I am beyond description in terms of being geographically challenged. The chances of my actually answering a page within a day of receiving it would appear to be limited at the very best. I am more likely to find the North Pole than I am any destination on that campus.

I am WIPED OUT.

And yeah, the gutter guys are still here. I suppose I should look at it this way: the gutter-and-soffit catastrophe is absorbing pretty much all the stress I might otherwise direct toward CPE. As a lining, though, that one looks more like rust than silver.

9 comments:

Jan said...

Wow, you've done a lot and CPE, too. Try to rest when you can.

Lisa :-] said...

Quite the start to a busy summer...

Lori said...

You're gettin' things done! That's a good start.

I didn't realize it took 12 years for fathers to become fathers!

Gannet Girl said...

It doesn't, PG --but it takes at least 12 years of preparation to make final vows as a Jesuit. Most become priests fairly early in the process.

Jody Harrington said...

The HUGE hospitals in the Houston Med Center have different colored paths on their floors that are color-coded to different destinations in the complex. Hopefully this hospital will have something like that for you.

Good luck with CPE...and the gutters!

Althea N. Agape said...

The Hospital here is in at least 3 buildings connected by walkways -- but it's floor 9 in bldg one to floor 7 in bldg 2; then floor 8 in bldg 2 goes to floor 3 in bldg 3. And of course different elevator banks within a bldg don't go to all the floors. AAARGH. But I've located all the units that I have to cover, and the pastoral care office and the room where we meet. And my feet hurt.

Tomorrow really starts the visitations! Good luck with yours!

Anonymous said...

I did supply chaplaincy for a year or so in a gargantuan hospital that had been assembled higgledy piggledy--tack on a wing there, merge buildings, underground tunnels--craziness. i learned a really important thing in the process of working there:
a)security guards always know where to go.
b) if ou can't find one of them, ask a janitor.

I made no attempt to learn the building and was never late to a call. I also knew a lot of security guards by name.

Anonymous said...

You will be great at what you need to do there even if you are challenged geographically. Please tell me there is no Greek involved and then keep that firmly in mind while you are wandering the halls.

Stratoz said...

please tell me that you do say NO to some things. wonderful activities you are involved in but I wish you rest and stillness.