This weekend I joined Heidi and some of her parishioners at the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago’s annual Diocesan Convention. In the process I was recruited to take some pictures, so more to come on those. But tonight, Heidi and I are enjoying the quiet time with a oven-cooked deep dish pizza and a movie. Her sermon’s done and during dinner, here’s what happened:

A: “Can we watch Ocean’s Twelve?”
H: “Yes dear. But I think I need a transition from starving children and poverty to Brad Pitt and George Clooney.”
A: “Ummm, I’m not sure there’s much of a transition there, H!”
H: “I guess you’re right …”

Hopefully the classical music and cat escapades will help change the mood! -A

On Sunday I woke up in the hospital (don’t worry, it was the end of my shift! – I wasn’t a patient).  Then I drove out to Lakeview, a neighborhood on the north side of Chicago.  St. Peter’s Episcopal church was celebrating the end of their multi-year capital campaign and also hosting an organ recital with their new instrument.  The music was great.  The liturgy was great.  The people were so welcoming.  

Check out the pictures!

From St. Peter’s Episcopal Church

I’m tired of commuting!  Thursday afternoon’s commute, from Hyde Park to Bolingbrook, took 2 hours.  It’s 35.4 miles … sheesh!

On an good week, when there’s no traffic, and there aren’t extraneous meetings I have to attend in Hyde Park — on a good week I can get by with only driving 9.75 hours.  But when there’s traffic, or when there’s a busy CPE schedule, it can get closer to 14 hours a week.  And I definitely can’t stay connected with people by doing all this commuting.  My friends in Hyde Park lament how little they see me.  Heidi and I have to carve out time to sit together where her church schedule and my work/school schedules don’t fight. And I’m starting to take a professor’s advice seriously: I need to configure my laptop for voice commands and then I can type audibly as I drive.  (He claims it’s what got him through a long commuting schedule last summer when he was teaching at a different location).

I’m also dropping more out of shape than I expected.  Last year during my internship I gained 15 pounds.  Just think: what if I could use those 10 hours a week to work out instead of drive?  I’d feel amazing!

I’m SO eager for the time (foreseeably in June) when the commute will stop.

On another note, I learned a huge benefit of in-laws the other day.  I got out of a meeting a block away from Heidi’s parents’ house.  It was raining and I still had to walk a mile.  So I called Larry, who was home for lunch, and jogged over the block to get an umbrella!

Yippee!