Meet Me At The Market

Elizabeth and I have been trying to coordinate schedules and get together for weeks. My schedule has been relatively commitment free, but hers.... Since the end of May when she left her post as assistant rector at St.Timothy's, she's been searching and interviewing for positions and has been called to be the rector at a lovely church in northern Iowa. She's spent two weeks studying as one of the elite Canterbury Scholars at the Canterbury Cathedral in England. She and her family spent almost two weeks in Italy....doing Rome, Florence and Tuscany. She's found a place to rent in her new town, put her house in Des Moines on the market to sale, and shuttled her teen age son back and forth to football camp at his new school. Whew! just thinking about her whirlwind summer makes me tired. So, when we finally confirmed a date to meet and go to the Farmer's Market this morning, I was very excited. We bought a few things, but we spent most of our morning catching up over coffee at Java Joe's. I heard fabulous stories about the Cathedral and her colleagues, many of whom came from countries where women are considered second-class citizens and are certainly not ordained. She likened it to falling down the rabbit hole in 'Alice in Wonderland.' Every time male clergy would give her that 'You're really a priest?' look, she'd say to herself, "Yes, I am the real Alice!" I listened to her describe wonderful moments of worship in the Crypt, sacred prayer at the Thomas Becket shrine, and being allowed 'inside the walls' to see places tourists never see. I followed Elizabeth and her family through Rome as they searched for the four churches of Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons,' as she worshipped at the Anglican-Episcopal Church in the shadow of the Vatican, and as they all ooh-ed and aah-ed over the Sistine Chapel. I vicariously wine tasted with them in Tuscany and fell in love with the story of their innkeeper, a single woman who refurbished the inn and fell in love with her landscaper in the process. So much to talk about, so little time! Luckily, there's email and I know the way to her new town. Next time we must 'do' photos!