A Real Vacation!

Greetings from Alabama, a state which I never thought I’d intentionally go to, let alone enjoy this much!  (Well, okay, for transparency’s sake, I’m not actually writing this from Alabama; this is being prepared the week before I go. In fact, last week’s Postcards from the Edge is right above this in the e-mail I’m sending David.  BUT!) 

One of the things I promised myself and the Search Committee when I gleefully accepted the call from Midway Hills was that I would use all of my Paid Time Off every year.  (I am not very good at taking time off to simply recharge. Give me a mission trip, conference or keynoting gig anytime, though!) I didn’t know what I would do, and then my friend Val decided to come and visit, burning her vacation time before she leaves her job to go back to school.  Val lives (at the moment) in Brooklyn, and I have never gone out to see her. She’s been to Texas four times now, and of those times, I was (respectively) sick with mono, food poisoned, getting ordained and just plain exhausted from a busy mission summer. We’ve always stayed in the metroplex, and she told me in no uncertain terms we would not be doing that this time around. So we’ve up and left for Gulf Shores. Cell phones off, computers left at our respective homes. It’s an adventure, surely. 

I wish I had more to tell you, and I’d be tempted to call in and give David a few details to put in here (or even better check my work e-mail) but I think Val and Martha Johnson would both kill me. So instead, I’ll keep this postcard brief, ending with a very big truth: I cannot wait to see you all on Sunday. I am thankful every day I get to be a part of Midway Hills. 

Shalom y’all,  Arthur