So ... how's that list coming?

Today is the day Sean and I depart for Slovakia; our flight leaves from O'Hare at 10 pm and will arrive in Vienna at 5:30 pm tomorrow. Today is also our two-year wedding anniversary. It seems fitting and auspicious to begin our adventure together this way, this day!

But, you may ask, what ever happened to that To-Do list you made back in June? It was completed, and quickly replaced by other lists. But it's worth taking another look, just to give me a small sense of accomplishment on a morning when we aren't ... quite ... packed (one of our brand new suitcases had a defective zipper. Eh, could be worse. We're going back to exchange it today. Plenty of time! =))

Done in June, July and August as preparation for pastoral internship and mission volunteering in Slovakia:

1. Sold most of our earthly possessions. This went really well, as previously reported. We are free of excess stuff and it's great. Very liberating. We hope to never own a car again. But before you make us saints of simple-living, know that we have probably over-packed for our trip. Neither of us is really sure how to pack for going abroad for a whole year--what clothes to bring or to leave--and we've both leaned toward "bring" since we have this neat allowance from the ELCA to go over our bag and weight limit. This is probably a mistake, but we won't know what was right to bring and what was wrong until we get there. If we do another short term mission assignment, we'll be better prepared for this part. Still, I'm going to take another look in the bags today and pull out what I can.

2. Went to the Jersey Shore, soaked it up. Sean is really hoping my first call will be to shore town. As long as there's a boardwalk with rides, soft serve, fried oreos and mini-golf, I'm there!

3. Prayed. For my family, missing Jason, and for my future students, the third years: at the end of this past year one of their classmates committed suicide. For my cousin L and my sister M who are sick. For safe travels and preparations for all the missionaries I met at orientation--and for all of us in that group, for support and love as we navigate transitional times. This is one that can't be checked off the list! Please keep us in your prayers, especially as we travel today and tomorrow.

4. Got trained. I'm still processing everything I learned at the Bread for the World Hunger Justice Leader training. The days were densely packed and each workshop was full of useful, engaging and meaningful material. If I'd been good, I would have blogged every night. Sleeping is for the weak. =)

This picture is from the training, and it's on the Bread for the World page promoting a really exciting campaign that all of you voter-types living in the US should consider taking part in: BEAT Hunger 2008. You sign up, Bread sends you emails when there are political events/townhall meetings in your area, you go and ask the candidates a question relating to domestic or world hunger, and maybe someone goes with you and records it and puts the whole exchange up on YouTube. Candidates start to realize that hunger is a real and relevant campaign issue, and should be a priority for them when elected as well. This will be tricky to do from Slovakia, but my dad signed up last night; you can join him by signing up here, and reading more about it here.

5. Wrote prayers for Sundays and Seasons. Look for my intercessory prayers in 2010: the First and Second Sundays of Christmas, Epiphany Sunday, Vigil of Easter and Easter Sunday. The Easter Vigil prayers were the most fun to write: if you haven't been to an Easter Vigil service, I highly recommend it!

6. Enjoyed New Jersey. We did! And we miss it. We've also enjoyed Park Ridge, my hometown. It's been very, very good to have this time with my folks, but I bet they'll be glad to have their condo, and they're regular routine, back! We're looking forward to getting into a regular routine of our own.

7. Enjoyed our family. This is also not something that gets crossed off the list. We will continue to do this, if from afar, over Skype, through emails and letters, and with the pictures y'all post. As we told our niece and nephew, "It'll still be good, just different."

We very much enjoyed time with our friends and family at the sermon/sending/anniversary party my folks hosted August 3. It reminded me of my high school graduation party, and our wedding reception, too ... so many good people coming together from different parts of our lives, interacting with each other in neat and unexpected ways, the room filled with warm, good feeling. Laurel said: "This is a good group, this is a safe place." It's true! We are blessed to have such a strong, loving support network. (And prayer shawls, from the St. Luke's Prayer Shawl Ministry--we also have one Mim made us for our wedding--we were advised to bring 'em all, as it can be cold indoors and outdoors in the winter!)

So, what's left to do? Replace that suitcase, finish packing, take it all apart and pack again, get on the plane. Do these things that are ongoing ... Enjoy our family! Pray! Wistfully remember New Jersey! Depart for a new place, knowing that we are loved unconditionally, glad for grace.

Very detailed anxiety nightmares and other updates

So, this morning I had an anxiety nightmare of the very, very detailed variety. Evidently I'd thrown together a band and planned to play guitar, even though in this dream, as in real life, I can't really play songs so much as make a chord, make a face as my fingers start to bleed, make another chord...

I was worried about this, and the fact that I only had one original song (which impresses me now, I wish I could remember it!) and the fact that all lyrics to cover songs had fled my brain ... and Leonard Cohen was in the unexpectedly large crowd of people coming to hear me sing and play.

This past year I've gotten really good at resolving my anxiety nightmares--my recurring back-in-high school nightmare lost much of its ability to induce trauma when my dream self was able to realize and assert that I didn't really need to pass this high school math class--I'd already done it, I'd graduated from college, I was in grad school ... the surprise exam and lost text book and the forgotten locker combination were irrelevant. I've gotten to the point where I enjoy working through this category of dream while I'm in it, and this musical performance dream was no exception. In this dream, Sean was there helping me come up with ideas for how to be most impressive with the least amount of skill and how to perform best at my most forgetful and nervous. He looked at my set list, "Of course you don't remember the lyrics to these," he said, "How about 'Come Thou Fount of of Every Blessing'?" Perfect. I could sing it in my sleep. =)

Anyway, I must be stressed about something. Probably item number 1 on that To-Do list: sell all earthly belongings. June is flying, y'all, and we have a lot of stuff. I made a spreadsheet last night and today I'm taking pictures for Craigslist. It'll happen--it has to happen. It makes me nervous about leaving for the Bread for the World Training this weekend. I am glad that, as in my dream, I'm not doing this alone.

In other news, I've gotten to talk to my folks every afternoon of their trip so far, which is a happy thing indeed. Yesterday was their first day in Israel, where they are staying on a hotel on a kibbutz on the Sea of Galilee. They day before that they had an 11 mile hike down a canyon to Petra, which Indiana Jones fans particularly may recognize. The weather has been good, Mom's been taking great pictures but hasn't had a chance to post them, everyone is doing well and soaking it in.

Soaking it in is precisely what we did at the Jersey Shore this past weekend, and we have pictures to prove it. Sea creatures, boardwalk food and grilled hot dogs were consumed. Mom Albright took us out to a lovely dinner to celebrate my graduation (Dad Albright had to stay home to meet up with the air conditioning repair guy--all went well.) The boardwalk was walked, plants were planted and the beach ... was sunned, read and strolled upon. Good stuff.

A self-portrait on the ferris wheel at the Wonderland Pier, on the Ocean City boardwalk.

On Tuesday night we had Jill, Brian, Bella, Gus and Eli over for dinner: Sean made fried chicken and summer veggie saute while I made some cornbread with fresh corn kernels and a little bit of pickled jalapeno and strawberry shortcake with fresh whipped cream for dessert. Bella helped whip the cream and took the lead on designing and building the shortcakes. It was wonderful to have them over to our house and pretty funny to watch Eli explore this new place with such great interest. (The kitchen! I want to go to the kitchen! While Uncle Sean is frying things!)

Here is Eli on-the-move! The child is fast. Fozzy was like, "Hey, wait up!"

OK, back to it. As much as I enjoy conquering anxiety in my dreams, I'd rather diminish my anxiety while awake so that my sleep is more restful.

Failing that, I could nap. =)

So you're going to move (again)

The last time I started a blog and kind of stuck with it, the first entry was a To-Do before moving list. I did my best both to keep it fun and whimsical and also to make it about more than just food (I do still miss the food in Houston … so cheap, so good, so gourmet-you-can-get-wearing-jeans.) Faced with less than a month (!) left in New Jersey, I find the task of keeping the stress and preponderance of food out of my list a little daunting. It is go time, people. If I don’t feast on Atlantic coast sea creatures now … when? Who knows when mussels in red sauce will be so good, plentiful and local for us again?

So, here’s my new To-Do—a little less whimsical, a little more realistic, but still great fun and part of an adventure I’m so, so glad for. Every once and awhile Sean and I stop what we’re doing and just grin at each other, or embrace, still unable to completely believe that we’re this blessed.

Without any more ado …

To-Do in June when you are selling all your earthly possessions and moving to Slovakia for a year:

1. Sell all earthly possessions. We’ve got to get a move-on on this. I think we’re going for three fronts next week: Craig’s List, apartment bulletin boards and family members. There might be a yard sale with the help of our siblings (and their yard, ha!) Some of our very most treasured things we’ll keep with family, I think, though we haven’t explicitly asked anyone yet (it shouldn’t be too much stuff … my cupcake carrier and Sean’s cast iron pan are all I can think of at the moment. =).) We think we’ll drive to Chicago and try to sell the car there—anyone in the metro area looking for an incredibly fuel efficient, lightly-used Toyota? It’s a great little car.

2. Go to Jersey Shore and soak it up. We’re talking Pirate Island Mini Golf, the Ocean City Boardwalk and all the rides and terrible/wonderful food that entails, fishing, flying our anniversary kite on the beach (our gift to ourselves on our first wedding anniversary last year) and eating mussels in red sauce until I am sick or sick of them. Mmmmm, creatures. I can’t wait for this weekend!

3. Pray. You’d think this was a professional hazard, goes without saying, etc., but my folks are doing some serious traveling this month and that, uh, makes me less forgetful about praying. June 19th is also the one year anniversary of my cousin’s suicide; prayers and good thoughts sent the way of my family—especially Jason’s mom, dad, sister, brother, and fiancé—would be wonderful and appreciated.

4. Get trained. June 14-17 I’ll be in Washington DC getting trained by Bread for the World to be a Hunger Justice Leader; on the 17th I’ll hit the Hill for Lobby Day. Read about the Global Poverty Act here.

5. Write prayers. I’m writing intercessory prayers for Sundays and Seasons, 2010. It was pretty great to see my name and work in the 2009 edition that just came out! (Check out the alternate worship texts for Lent and Easter!)

6. Enjoy New Jersey. One more romantic dinner at Oh!Yoko, another trip to the rootbeer stand, The Taco House, the farmer’s market, McMillan’s Bakery. Walks in the park across the street, walks to the custard/water ice stand.

7. Enjoy our family. We had a wonderful Bon Voyage Party last weekend and have plans to see other folks before we go.
Here's one picture from the party (it's in the photo set I linked to above.) The US and Slovak flags are a gift from Sean's parents. We love them!

This afternoon we’re expecting guests—Diana and Sarah, good friends of mine from Yale Div. Diana has her first call at an Episcopal parish in Rittenhouse Square; I think I’m going to introduce the two of them to water ice today. I will teach them the correct pronunciation, too: “wuder ice.” Hee. Yeah, I’m excited to get going, but I’m surely going to miss this place. In June 2005 I wrote: “I feel like this is a good choice. I think the mental transition is going to take some time.” This is most certainly still true.