I know I haven't been posting a ton lately. Not even sermons (though I have one I'm trying to recreate from a few weeks ago). Part of that has been laziness, I'll admit. But the other part has been travel and preoccupation with the move to Hawaii.
Well, two weeks ago my "stuff" left the apartment in Hermitage. My mom (gotta love moms!) came down for a visit and helped organize things (huge help). The movers came, packed, and left in about 4.5 hours. Amazing! I ended up moving a bit more than I originally planned, but I think that's for the best. My hope is that the church will reimburse the difference between the quote and the actual as well. As seems to always be the case the movers missed some things and took others that I hadn't meant them to take. So I sent two boxes via parcel post that day.
I spent a couple of nights on an air mattress, then had my last Sunday at my "old" church. That's the sermon that I'm working on posting. The turnout was amazing… Even the Christmas and Easter crowd was there, and we had to put out additional chairs in the gym (where we're worshipping while the roof over the church is replaced). There was a nice reception afterwards and the customary giving of gifts including a check for my future discretionary fund and a wonderful picture of the church drawn by one of the parishioners.
There was a picnic that night at the home of another Episcopal clergy person in the area for all the deanery clergy. It was part a summer gathering and part a send off. It was good to relax with my colleagues one more time. We've got a great deanery, and I'm going to miss those folks.
The next day I set off on a whirlwind tour of the Midwest. I met Jane and her son Kyle at the Indiana Dunes State Park on the shores of Lake Michigan. We hiked (in a circle, mind you) and then went for a nice swim in the lake. The day was gorgeous, and the waves amazing (I'm ashamed to say they were leaps above what I had at Waikiki beach on my visit). We went back to their home where I spent a very pleasant Monday evening, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning.
Tuesday afternoon I met up with another friend who is starting at a new church in Chicago, and went out to dinner with their family at Giordanos, followed by sundaes at Ghirardelli. An odd thing happened… A waiter offered us a free sundae! Odd, but John and I accepted. Man, I gotta get back on the treadmill soon.
Wednesday I accompanied Jane to work at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. I pestered her for a bit, then we had Eucharist, lunch with the rector, and a visit with a wonderful older homebound parishioner. Back home I helped prepare Jane's birthday dinner, and we had a bit of celebration.
Thursday Jane and I did some errands in the morning, including looking at colors for the vicarage in Hawaii. I hate painting, but it needs to be done I'm told, and I plan on trying to not be average in my color selection. Here goes nothing. After that we had lunch and I left for Columbus, OH.
Just east of Indianapolis I got to witness some fancy flying! One of the military exhibitonary (sp?) flying teams was doing maneuvers over I-70, and seemed to follow me for about 15-20 minutes.
In Columbus I had a nice visit with Tim, met his new significant other, and generally hung out. I also caught up with the folks I shared a house with (not theirs) when I did my CPE years ago. Their 4 month old son is now almost 5, and they have a new youngster named Mark. All in all that was a great visit, especially as I won't be catching up in person with Tim for a while, I suspect. Tim, I think, enjoyed it too… We've grown closer as we get older. Oh, and he got a UPS, microwave, and toaster, and I gave his computer a major overhaul. 
One point of note on the visit to Columbus was the Egyptian Festival that Tim's s.o. knew of. It was at St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church. The food was great, and the tour of the church was wonderful. Such a rich heritage, and I really got to talk liturgy with the tour guides. I left with a very neat and different icon of the nativity and one of their worship books, which draws from the liturgies of Sts. Cyril, Gregory, and Basil (I think, the book is in the mail to Hawaii).
I also took some time to look at Toyotas and Hondas. Of the two, the Toyotas are winning on features and price, and the Hondas are slightly ahead on fuel mileage. I would love to get a hybrid car in Hawaii, but the wait is six or more months. I was leaning towards VW cars, but the pricing was getting to me, and apparently the repair record is poor. So right now the leading car is the Toyota Matrix, followed closely by the Corola.
I worshipped at St. Jane's Episcopal Church, Columbus on Sunday, and got to catch up with Bridget, too. We had a quick lunch with Tim, then I threw a lot of stuff into suitcases and headed home.
Before getting home I joined some friends from Sharon for a family picnic at the lake and some time with them at home. It was another hard goodbye, but I think these folks will also visit. And they've added a lot to my life in my time here, and I will always hold that close.
Monday I did a lot of laundry in the morning and some re-packing, then went hiking with Patrick in the evening. He has gotten engaged (yah!) and we not only hiked but discussed the wedding, which he and his fiancée would like me to preside over. Cool! We shared dinner later and he helped me take my TV and cart to church, then headed back to Erie.
Today (Tuesday) I closed my local bank account, checked on my discretionary fund, then headed into church to take care of a few things. I dropped off my VCR and a desk chair (the first for the church, the latter for a parishioner). Mom and dad met me there. Dad helped me put a the back seat back into the mini-van, then we left it with the woman who was using it before me. We went back to the apartment, packed like crazy, shipped three more boxes to Hawaii, and went out to lunch. We left a few more things at Church for my folks to pick up next week, then loaded the car and headed to Cleveland.
I'm blogging right now from the Baymont Inns and Suites Airport hotel. Using, I might add, a 24,000 bps dial up line. The advertised WiFi is down, and has been for a while… Let that be a lesson to ye all: Make sure the internet advertised really exists.
Tomorrow I take the hotel shuttle to the airport at 0700, and get on a plane at 0900. After a connection in San Francisco I'll land in the early evening in Honolulu. From there I'll head to the vicarage for my first night in my new home!
Phew! I'm tired now, and need to head to bed. I have a long day tomorrow lugging around a LOT of luggage (whee) and sitting in metal tubes. I am definitely looking forward to being there, though.
Peace!
(Hope that holds you all for a bit. )