Today I walked up to the door at work and saw that someone had taped several sheets of paper to it.
Ugh, I thought. What are the undergraduates up to now?
Then it dawned on me. October 31. It was the 95 Theses.
Anyway, apparently we all know how I would handle the Reformation.
“Table for two?” asks the waiter at the pho restaurant I took Tori to yesterday.
Before we can nod our heads, he places two glasses of water on a table already complete with menus and silverware. Seconds later we have garnish for our pho and a waiter politely hovering to get food orders.
The appetizer comes out before we have time to wash our hands. The pho itself follows just as we finish our appetizer.
We are allowed a few minutes to enjoy our meal. When I start slowing down, though, our shadow reappears and politely suggests a to-go box. Then a check. Fastest, most efficient visit ever.
Clearly, they’ve been taking notes from Chick-fil-A.
Tori’s fly by visit has come to an end. It was too short! But as always, so lovely seeing her. Old friendships tend to shift with time, especially when one gets married and the other doesn’t. Different priorities and different people enter your life. Tori has continued to be an inspiring exception to this. She is incredibly intentional in keeping up, coming to visit, and making future plans. I really cannot imagine life without her.
Thank you, Tori, for coming to visit ❤ Next time I need to make it out to Texas!
Proof that Tori is here ♥️
Not shown: the collection of books we inevitably bought.
It took a few tries but Tori flew out to visit me!
No photo evidence (somehow there rarely is?) but it was delightful to spend the day hanging out with her. We got brunch-that-was-lunch, went vintage clothing shopping, and played Regency themed board games with the housemates.
Her visits are always the best ❤
At breakfast this morning, I learned I wasn’t the only one to go on a ghost tour of Colonial Williamsburg last night! The family sitting at my table went on a tour that started right after mine. They went on an almost identical tour but heard an entirely different set of ghost stories (sometimes about the same houses I saw!)
Apparently the highlight of their tour was not a particular ghost, but a drunk guy in their group who brought his own ‘paranormal wand’ which supposedly lit up when a ghost was near. But the wand kept lighting up every time he pointed it at the family’s 16 year old son! So, the drunk concluded that the son must be possessed by a ghost. Unsure how to break it to them, he spent the entire tour sidling up, gesturing with his wand, and furtively slipping away when someone made eye contact.
I feel like now I need to go back and do the tour again!
For my first time setting foot in Colonial Williamsburg…I went on a ghost tour!
The tour consisted of a visibly nervous law student in a trench coat making quippy comments about paranormal activity in Colonial Williamsburg. (Including The Most Haunted House on the Eastern Seaboard.)
It was a fun way to get a tour, though I don’t feel like I know anything about actual Colonial Williamsburg. I do, however, know which graveyard to avoid because of pissed off Civil War ghosts and which mansion contains a haunted maze where a student was beheaded by an escaped mental patient with a scythe.
I definitely recommend the tour!
To celebrate 40 years, the organization where I work is holding their first ever all-staff retreat. (They’ve been careful not to say first annual! Just our first ever.)
And obviously, what bonds an organization more than…bowling?
It ended up being a lot of fun, actually, and has reinforced that I am, in fact, still terrible at bowling.
After Saturday proved rather ineffective, I told myself I Absolutely Must Pack because I leave tomorrow. I made a to do list and everything.
I am pleased to say I have crossed one thing off said list.
Books
(Will I have time to read? Almost certainly not. But hope springs eternal.)
According to my blog, I visited my church one year ago today. (I actually think it was a week earlier. But regardless, it has been one year.)
I moved 20 times in 10 years. As you can imagine, that made it challenging to find consistent spiritual community. I won’t even take a guess at home many churches I’ve visited. (You should see my mug collection!)
Visiting CHS a year ago, I had no expectation that it would become my permanent home. It was striking, that is for sure. I had never heard of a charismatic, liturgical, evangelical Anglican church. But I don’t think I walked through the front doors and said ‘ah yes, home.’
(This has happened occasionally. For example, when I visited St. Ebbes during my time at Oxford.)
One year later and I’ve been a member of CHS for half a year already.
For however long it lasts, it sure is nice to put down roots.
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