Yesterday my church elected me to serve on our church’s vestry, basically the Anglican version of a Board of Directors.
I’m still stuck on what an honor it was to receive the nomination. I can’t believe I was then elected to the position! (There were three of us who had been nominated for two positions.)
I’ve been a member of this church for only a year, so to receive a majority of votes really took me by surprise. It truly amazes me that after two years of seeking a church community in Virginia, this liturgical, charismatic, evangelical Anglican church popped up and claimed me as its own! I am excited to see what God brings next.
The weather has decided that we in Northern Virginia have enjoyed the lovely spring weather far too long. Today is 82 degrees with 50% humidity. Tomorrow will be 87 degrees. And so forth.
And so begins the season where we move from air conditioned houses to air conditioned cars to air conditioned buildings of employment!
For those of you like me who thoughtlessly left the house this morning wearing black and gray, it is Saint Patrick’s Day. Aka the day you better wear green.
Apparently 95% of my church congregation got the memo.
As service wrapped up and everyone stood to go, my neighbor turned and handed me a large green pin. She said: “Here, you need something green.”
I immediately started to pin it to my shirt.
Horrified, she hissed: “Not in church!”
At which point I processed that this giant green pin was an advertisement for Guinness Beer.
I feel like in Wisconsin this wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow.
People seem to get more excited about primaries in Wisconsin.
Maybe I’m wrong and I just happened to run in a particularly politically-minded crowd when I lived in Wisconsin. But despite the comparatively low voter turnouts, I always knew when there was a primary.
Virginia doesn’t seem to have the same energy for primaries. Or any energy, really. Even my politically active co-workers looked at me blankly when they saw my “I Voted” sticker today.
The attitude seems to be more “those who know know and they will show up and steer the party.” Less “here is an election open to everyone!”
I returned to the hair stylist with the broken English this afternoon. Despite having not seen me since August, he greeted me like an old friend. He didn’t even make a pretense of asking what I wanted this time. Just took my coat and started brushing it out, pausing only to check before he started cutting to make sure he didn’t cut it too short.
Finally, he asked:
“Your human age?”
Confused, I said something intelligent like, “Huh?”
Him: “Your human age?”
Me: “Oh, 30.”
Him: * surprised noise * “You look younger!”
A pause.
Him: “You have husband? Boyfriend? No?” * another surprised noise * “With this haircut, you get boyfriend, husband, no time. Come back in three months.”
I’m not sure if I’m coming back with a boyfriend in three months or to get my hair trimmed. With him it really could go either way.
Because I so frequently complain about being promised snow and then not getting it, I feel like it is only fair to Virginia weather to admit we did get snow over the last few days and it has lasted.
Granted, it was only a couple inches, but it is still more than I’ve seen here .
Of course, the rest of the country received more snow, so it isn’t particularly impressive. But we got it!
The weather isn’t the only thing where I find myself at odds with folks on the east coast. My sense of road trip time is different. I feel like this conversation with my brother sums it up well:
Brother (From Wisconsin): “I’ve never been further Northeast than Ohio. I’d like to visit Pennsylvania or New York.”
Me: “Oh, then, if you plan to visit me in Virginia, let’s hit Gettysburg.”
Brother: “Is it far?”
Me: “Only a couple hours.”
Brother: “That’s the thing about the east coast. All that history in your back yard!”
As I approach my fourth year in Virginia, I have learned that when I get three separate “weather warnings” 24 hours in advance, it means it won’t even rain.
Apparently I am not the only one who has noticed this. Hence this meme on my local Facebook community page:
I sat down to draft some goals for 2024 and realized that I will probably accomplish them with very little effort. But perhaps that’s a good thing! It is another year to continue growing in my role as a lawyer and my life here in Virginia.
Easy Goals
Re-read 100 books
Complete the Duolingo app’s Sections 4, 5, and 6 in Spanish. (Which allegedly will put me at the intermediate level of Spanish proficiency.)
Visit at least one new state.
Blog every day. (If I am going to do it anyway, might as well get credit.)
Fernweh's Call 