Week of Sept. 5, 2004

Week of Sept. 5, 2004
Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2004—Day 80
I’m back in Louisville, and I’m feeling horribly disoriented… Scott and I drove down this afternoon. We arrived during rush hour/dinner time. I had trouble remembering how to get to Blankenbaker (we were going to eat at Ruby Tuesdays.) We ended up eating at the new El Nopal, near my apartment. I had forgotten what it looked like when I left. We attempted to get my TV, VCR and DVD player from the White House (our youth building) and unload my desk at church… I tried to time this mission so we’d be there while ALPHA people were in small groups, but we were caught. John P. and Michael T. were on the playground. I also bumped in to Christine and Mitch Noah. I didn’t spend much time in the building, but it seemed very brightly lit to me.

I brought the majority of my mail home and went through it while we watched a movie. I threw at least half of it away. I am going to try to start getting up at 8 a.m., so I can get back in the swing of things.

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2004—Day 81
This morning Scott and I went to Mall St. Matthews for lunch, then we went to Locust Grove. Locust Grove is a house built in 1790, owned by the brother-in-law of George Rogers Clark, founder of Louisville. The house has been restored to resemble the way it looked in the late 1700s, which is when we date the beginning of our congregation—we’re celebrating our 215th anniversary this fall. Scott had to leave before the tour was over to go back to Columbus.

I spent several hours at church this afternoon. I saw all of the staff except Doris and the preschool teachers. I got my computer set up—after using AOL dial up all summer, the DSL seems very fast. I gave myself a tour of the building, surveying what needs to be done before Sunday. Most of the evening VBS wound up in the Sunday School office, so I started to sort through that.

I bumped into a handful of church friends today—at the mall and at church. I’m sure I will see more in the next few days. I think it is good… If I were to see 200 people on Sunday for the first time in 12 weeks, I know I would feel overwhelmed.
Schlotzsky’s is still closed (it appears it is closed for good, and not for remodeling), so I ate at Tumbleweed. I didn’t feel ready to go back to aerobics at church.

I was home by 5:30. I continued to unpack, and did some cleaning as well. I watched A Wrinkle in Time, a movie based on the novel by Madeleine L’Engle, which aired on The Wonderful World of Disney in the spring. I thought it was pretty good, and a more faithful adaptation than A Ring of Endless Light, which aired on the Disney Channel. I’m glad I reread the book this summer before I watched the movie.

Saturday, Sept. 8, 2004—Day 84
Today is the last day of my sabbatical. The past 12 weeks have been wonderful, and I won’t forget this summer, though the details are beginning to fade already.

I have spent a few hours at church each day since Wednesday. Yesterday my carpet was cleaned at my apartment, so I had to go somewhere else. I went to the Seneca High School football game last night, and saw Matt, Shelley, Chris and Mitch… and presumably Zach.

Today I was at church from 9 to 5, then I went back later to set some things up after the Prayer-a-Trooper event. I feel fairly prepared for tomorrow, though I wish my first official day back was not a 12-hour day.

I am tired… This week has worn my out—saying good-bye to my parents and brother, loading the cars, unpacking, trying to get organized at church.

It will take weeks for me to process the summer—I tend to process slowly. So I will continue to write in this journal a while longer.