If, as it has been reported, the average American lifespan is 81 years, I'm wondering how I am being called by God to use the last 9 years (give or take a few years) of my life for good. I'm in the process of moving my presbytery membership from Greater Atlanta Presbytery to Boise (ID) Presbytery (first time my presbytery membership will not be in the southeast.) It'll be interesting to learn how 'things' are done out west, to establish new collegial relationships, work with new colleagues here to revive the PCUSA (prospects not good for PCUSA as membership continues to fall radically and the theological differences continue to grow at an alarming rate). This Wednesday I will be joining Boise area Presbyterian pastors for lunch and discussion of the forthcoming vote on amendments to the PCUSA constitution. More importantly, I want to be of whatever help I can be for my granddaughters here in Nampa and the other five grandkids in Atlanta and NY in my last decade of life. Those of us who are older need to assess how we plan to use the last years of our lives for good.
Different Landscapes, Different Pace…
I still am amazed at the radically different landscapes out west from those with which I was most familiar in the greater Atlanta area and in the southeast generally. Yesterday, on our way to Covenant church in Boise, I saw many nice neighborhoods with beautiful homes adjacent to the corrals housing their horses -- many half-acres with one or more horses grassing leisurely in their fenced small pasture. Horses are everywhere out west. It's a way of life to be expected where there are untold thousands of acres of open range as well as the neighborhood pastures.
The pace of life is much slower out west. People don’t seem to be in such a hurry. And it doesn’t take hours fighting traffic to go a few miles. We are five miles from our daughter’s home and have to drive through two towns (Caldwell and Nampa) to get there and it takes 10 minutes max! The less traffic may extend the nine years I mentioned above, you think…?
New York, New York…!
In late December, we are flying to New York to spend time with our son, Todd, and his five kids (two in Atlanta area and three in the NY area) at his house in Connecticut. It’ll be a fun time, and likely, will be cold!
We spend much of our time here with Anna and her two girls, Emily and Molly. Last evening after a wonderful meal at Anna’s, we moved three beds between the girls’ bedrooms. We all got rather hysterical with the project. It was fun. Today Helen is working at Anna’s school and I’m playing golf at noon with my Monday foursome. Weather is beautiful right now…68 degrees and sunny. Some rain forecast, but in this part of Idaho, it seldom lives up to the weather forecast. Going for that elusive 79 today.
Staying in Touch…
We enjoy staying in close touch with dear friends from our last pastorate. We’ve done a lot of praying for some of them. George is recovering from an illness, but at 86 he’s now starting to play golf again. Sooooo good to hear that! Myra has taken good care of him. (Remind me sometime to tell about Myra’s driving adventure with her girl friends in Jackson Hole, WY, going to see the buffalo.) Bonnie is beating her cancer with Mike’s help. Buck and Billie have been great support for both couples. Buck and Mike live and die with the Georgia Bulldogs, as I do with the Ole Miss Rebels. For sanity, I have the undefeated Boise State Broncos. Then, there’s Lee (and Amy), Rusty (and Sonya) and Rees (and Daryl), my other Atlanta foursome, three trusted friends I have known for 15-plus years, but there’s not much I can tell publicly about those three! What happens …stays! LOL. I’m so proud of Lee’s leadership with World Water Relief. Children are dying by the thousands for lack of clean water! Rees is always available to help me solve mechanical problems and Rusty is as close as the phone to offer advice on a myriad of problems I run into on the RV trails. I stay out of issues in my former parish, but enjoy the friendships I share with these and other friends, as does Helen with her girl friends.
Note 1: There are many other old friends in COH/JCPC that hold special places in our hearts and memories, but I am careful not to be intrusive in our former church's life, so I don't call them.
Note 2: Our former church has a new pastor now and I am so grateful for Gray's ministry. Thanks be to God for a rich future ahead of the church under his leadership. (Now, if the PCUSA doesn't collapse in the next few years....)
New Friends Out West...
Everywhere we go we make new friends – in Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas. When we leave here in the new year (later than usual this time), we will be meeting up with these friends, many of them also full-time RVers. Also, it’s been good to catch up with older (and I mean older!) high school and college classmates. I just got a PC Class of ’60 pictorial directory and discovered the names of those in my class who have died. Some huge surprises, too. And a friend in Moss Point, Mississippi, keeps me up to date with classmates, live and dead. Friendships renewed are precious.
Last Home Gone!
I used Google Earth to look via satellite at our last home, nearly five acres in north Atlanta (Cumming, to be exact.) The home, of course, is gone, and the acreage on GE is scraped and cleared. The paved roads, street lights, etc are in, but it still looks weird to see the empty space where we enjoyed living ‘down in the woods’ for nearly 15 years. Hold on to good memories
Hey, that's great you're flying to N.Y. and will be with Todd and his kids. Grace and peace be with you. Be thinking of you! Doris
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