We've been here ten days now. Ann was installed as the Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chadron, NE one week ago today on 2/27 and is just now leading her first service and preaching her first sermon at the church. While she has been working at the church this past week, I've been unpacking and being otherwise domestic.
Two weeks ago our household was compacted into a truck (Thanks Asa and the other movers from TROSA!) and I was in the restricted world of the truck. When we arrived, church members and others (Thanks y'all!) unloaded most of our possesions into our split level townhouse-style apartment. The rest of our stuff we put in nearby storage. Its taken 3 weeks for process of the contraction of our household, then transporting it 1650 miles to its expansion in a smaller space, still ongoing.
We've had 3 snowfalls totaling less than 6 inches and 3 days of Spring during our ten days here. I've gotten out a bit, shopping and to storage to put more stuff there. On Monday, 2/28 I drove our new car (Subaru Forester, Thanks to Ann's parents Del and Shirley!) up from Greeley, CO through some beautiful Wyoming countryside.
About Chadron - it's a small town in high plains of the panhandle of western Nebraska. Two blocks from our home is the campus of Chadron State College with about 3,000 students. We're five minutes from anywhere in town, and then there's lots of countryside, both US Park and ranches. Pictures in this space soon. Google Chadron, NE 69337 for more of this type of info. The houses are mostly well maintained and of a wide variety of architectural styles, all mixed together. I sit at my desk and look out the window to a large hill behind the campus in the distance, and to the Missouri Synod Lutheran church across the backyard. Ann's church is a five minute walk away.
We've met very friendly folks in the church and the community. I feel there is possibility, even opportunity, for me for both relationship and employment. I have been spending most of my time alone, sometimes lonely. I've derived great comfort from the Buddhist notion of "just this", that in reality I am just who I am in this place right now. It seems fitting that I should feel sad at a time like this, missing loved ones and community. It is also liberating to meet people as just this person, no roles or personas to maintain. I am the pastor's spouse, so avoid public misbehavior, but that's the only role so far, and I don't feel restricted. It feels like this is a time to both settle in and to explore, so I'm doing my best to be open to what comes around in the process.
