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.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Driving and Arriving
We arrived in Chadron on Thursday, 2/24 around 4pm. The drive went pretty well up until near the end. We're now in our apartment surrounded by boxes, no surprise.
We left just one hour late on Monday and drove through West Virginia and stopped overnight in Chillicothe, OH. I really did relive my time in a truck, stopping at two favorite truck stops and re-learning how to drive a diesel truck up and down hills. Driving a truck really does take a lot of attention, keeping in the lane and up to speed. Over the three and a half days I was in a funny transition, residing in a familiar setting while leaving my old home for an unknown new one. When I tried to imagine living in Chadron, I found myself strongly disliking the idea. I wanted to live at home in Durham! I felt I was not giving this new experience a chance, so instead allowed myself to focus on the familiar, thus comforting, setting of the truck.
Two incidents stand out for the trip. The first happened on Tuesday near Covington, IN when police cars started zooming by us. We soon came to a stop behind a 1/4 mile long line of traffic and could see over a dozen police cars of all kinds and jurisdictions up ahead. Since I now had some time to set up the CB radio, I did and learned from the chatter a fugitive was being chased in the nearby wooded area. See the story here: http://tinyurl.com/47ptqpg . Very bizarre. Ann learned how useful, and obscene, CB radio chatter on the channel 19 can be.
The second incident was truly heartening. The truck started acting up when we started out on our final 1/2 day of travel Thursday in Oglalla, NE. We reached Oshkosh, NE and decided to seek a mechanic's opinion, and we were directed to Shannon, the only diesel mechanic for many miles around. He gave us an opinion, encouraged us to call Penske roadside assistance and talked with them, and was far beyond hospitable. He and his wife Melanie offered to let us wait in their house next door while we waited 2.5 hours for a tow truck to arrive, and we talked with them over lunch. They were so thoroughly kind, open and generous that we felt fortunate our truck had broken down! It truly was very real demonstration, and also like an omen, that we are welcome in Nebraska. A mechanic followed by a tow truck came up from Sydney, NE and was familiar with the fuel problem Shannon had diagnosed. This mechanic drove the truck to Chadron, after Ann and I had detached the car trailer and offloaded our car. We preceded the truck, and were able to open the apartment and get set by the time it arrived.
Folks from the church, and some high school students led by an experienced piano mover, offloaded us in 2 hours and left a warm meal for us in a crockpot. We ate and collapsed into bed, grateful for all the help we had recieved that day.
I'm feeling optimistic about being here, still in a learning frame of mind and absorbed in settling in. Unsurprisingly, each person we have met has been friendly and welcoming. While still feeling new to Chadron, I don't feel like a stranger.
We left just one hour late on Monday and drove through West Virginia and stopped overnight in Chillicothe, OH. I really did relive my time in a truck, stopping at two favorite truck stops and re-learning how to drive a diesel truck up and down hills. Driving a truck really does take a lot of attention, keeping in the lane and up to speed. Over the three and a half days I was in a funny transition, residing in a familiar setting while leaving my old home for an unknown new one. When I tried to imagine living in Chadron, I found myself strongly disliking the idea. I wanted to live at home in Durham! I felt I was not giving this new experience a chance, so instead allowed myself to focus on the familiar, thus comforting, setting of the truck.
Two incidents stand out for the trip. The first happened on Tuesday near Covington, IN when police cars started zooming by us. We soon came to a stop behind a 1/4 mile long line of traffic and could see over a dozen police cars of all kinds and jurisdictions up ahead. Since I now had some time to set up the CB radio, I did and learned from the chatter a fugitive was being chased in the nearby wooded area. See the story here: http://tinyurl.com/47ptqpg . Very bizarre. Ann learned how useful, and obscene, CB radio chatter on the channel 19 can be.
The second incident was truly heartening. The truck started acting up when we started out on our final 1/2 day of travel Thursday in Oglalla, NE. We reached Oshkosh, NE and decided to seek a mechanic's opinion, and we were directed to Shannon, the only diesel mechanic for many miles around. He gave us an opinion, encouraged us to call Penske roadside assistance and talked with them, and was far beyond hospitable. He and his wife Melanie offered to let us wait in their house next door while we waited 2.5 hours for a tow truck to arrive, and we talked with them over lunch. They were so thoroughly kind, open and generous that we felt fortunate our truck had broken down! It truly was very real demonstration, and also like an omen, that we are welcome in Nebraska. A mechanic followed by a tow truck came up from Sydney, NE and was familiar with the fuel problem Shannon had diagnosed. This mechanic drove the truck to Chadron, after Ann and I had detached the car trailer and offloaded our car. We preceded the truck, and were able to open the apartment and get set by the time it arrived.
Folks from the church, and some high school students led by an experienced piano mover, offloaded us in 2 hours and left a warm meal for us in a crockpot. We ate and collapsed into bed, grateful for all the help we had recieved that day.
I'm feeling optimistic about being here, still in a learning frame of mind and absorbed in settling in. Unsurprisingly, each person we have met has been friendly and welcoming. While still feeling new to Chadron, I don't feel like a stranger.
Monday, February 14, 2011
2/14/11
Before I get to be new to Nebraska, I get to be old to here. Before I get there, I have to leave here. And that's what I've been doing the past few days, and will for the next week.
My last day at Workplace Options was Thursday, 2/10/11. It was a valuable experience working there and I care for a bunch of people I worked with. Ann and I had a party on Saturday and lots of folks we know from our different local circles came. Like most people my age, I've left people and places before. One way of leave taking is to say goodbye and then do my best not to think of them or stay in touch. This goes along with not being willing to experience the pain of leaving. Another way is to feel bitter, sort of like "If you don't want me in your club, I don't want to be in your stinky old club anyway!". Not terribly mature, but still helpful in keeping some pain at a distance. Another way is to look someone in the eye and lettng them know you love them and will miss them and then you both can cry. I'm trying that out this time and it sucks at keeping the pain away. Good for appreciating who and what you are leaving, though.
So we are touching as much of here and all y'all as we can, filling our eyes and tasting and hearing as much as we can while getting the necessary done. I feel like a baloon expanding with love and anticipating letting all the air out when we land in Chadron. I'm just going to breathe in while here and hold my breath. I know I'll have to exhale at some point, but not just yet.
Before I get to be new to Nebraska, I get to be old to here. Before I get there, I have to leave here. And that's what I've been doing the past few days, and will for the next week.
My last day at Workplace Options was Thursday, 2/10/11. It was a valuable experience working there and I care for a bunch of people I worked with. Ann and I had a party on Saturday and lots of folks we know from our different local circles came. Like most people my age, I've left people and places before. One way of leave taking is to say goodbye and then do my best not to think of them or stay in touch. This goes along with not being willing to experience the pain of leaving. Another way is to feel bitter, sort of like "If you don't want me in your club, I don't want to be in your stinky old club anyway!". Not terribly mature, but still helpful in keeping some pain at a distance. Another way is to look someone in the eye and lettng them know you love them and will miss them and then you both can cry. I'm trying that out this time and it sucks at keeping the pain away. Good for appreciating who and what you are leaving, though.
So we are touching as much of here and all y'all as we can, filling our eyes and tasting and hearing as much as we can while getting the necessary done. I feel like a baloon expanding with love and anticipating letting all the air out when we land in Chadron. I'm just going to breathe in while here and hold my breath. I know I'll have to exhale at some point, but not just yet.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Moving to Chadron, Nebraska
Ann has received a call to be the minister of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chadron, NE 69337 and we intend to arrive there around February 25, 2011. My last day on staff at Workplace Options will be Thursday, February 10. Ann's ordination is here in Durham on February 19. Everything else is to be determined.
My intention is to post here occasionally to share this experience, with the hope of maintaining connection with you in at least this one way. I'm excited and scared, sort of cycling between these two common feelings that arise when making a big change. I like to write and I am concerned about feeling isolated in a new place, so this blog is a response to these feelings.
I invite you to do an internet search of Chadron, NE 69337 to learn in this way about where we are going. Ann and I visited there in early December, 2010 and learned enough to feel we could be happy there. I grew up and went to college in suburban New Jersey, lived in New York City for twenty years and in Durham, NC for the 17 or so years following that. None of those places is like Chadron. It's been fun confronting my biases and doing the accompanying reality check. Someone from Chadron made the comment that people are different in Chadron from the folks on the coasts. My immediate reaction was surprise that he would lump people from both the East and West coasts together, as I'm willing to bet few people from the coasts would do the same. The implication I take from this is us "coasters" look the same to him, just as all midwesterners frequently get lumped together by coasters. Nice little lesson.
We were universally welcomed on our visit there, and some opportunities for me were presented as possibilities. So right now, I'm on the excited end of the seesaw. I'll close now as I'm feeling crunched to do some more of the necessary tasks before we move.
My intention is to post here occasionally to share this experience, with the hope of maintaining connection with you in at least this one way. I'm excited and scared, sort of cycling between these two common feelings that arise when making a big change. I like to write and I am concerned about feeling isolated in a new place, so this blog is a response to these feelings.
I invite you to do an internet search of Chadron, NE 69337 to learn in this way about where we are going. Ann and I visited there in early December, 2010 and learned enough to feel we could be happy there. I grew up and went to college in suburban New Jersey, lived in New York City for twenty years and in Durham, NC for the 17 or so years following that. None of those places is like Chadron. It's been fun confronting my biases and doing the accompanying reality check. Someone from Chadron made the comment that people are different in Chadron from the folks on the coasts. My immediate reaction was surprise that he would lump people from both the East and West coasts together, as I'm willing to bet few people from the coasts would do the same. The implication I take from this is us "coasters" look the same to him, just as all midwesterners frequently get lumped together by coasters. Nice little lesson.
We were universally welcomed on our visit there, and some opportunities for me were presented as possibilities. So right now, I'm on the excited end of the seesaw. I'll close now as I'm feeling crunched to do some more of the necessary tasks before we move.
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