Flying Solo
Very early this morning I saw Rebekah & Tori off as they go to visit family & friends in the midwest. I'll join them later in the month. For now, I'm flying solo. As an introvert, this is somewhat exciting, though admittedly still a bit sad.

I'll be spending an hour or two every morning on the "Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius," kind of a contemplative spiritual retreat thing that I have wanted to do since I read a book about it last year. I figure now is the time to go for it -- it will take some time each day for about a month.

I plan to spend the afternoons doing "normal" stuff in the office, and then spend the evenings with people (visiting house churches, getting together with individuals, doing a wedding, etc.)

I'm excited about this alternate schedule for a few weeks: it will allow space for solitutde, space for "work", and space for community. Hopefully I'll even sell a house somewhere in the midst of it all.

But I'll also miss Rebekah and Tori the next few weeks. It's especially hard with Tori (no offence to the wife, but I figure we're going to be hanging out for another 40 years or so if we live a normal life expectancy). Tori's only four, but I realize that she won't be around our house forever, and with school looming only a year away, the real quality time with her is precious for sure. But then again, her grandparents have had much less time with her than normal, so this trip will help even that out a bit.

Enough rambling. I'm off to try my new summer life plan.