October 2023
Dear Friends:
For the next few weeks I am going on grandma duty! My daughter in New York is experimenting with a variation on her career as a translator by incorporating more opportunities to provide simultaneous interpretation into her schedule. She is in the city where the United Nations is headquartered, after all, and her fluency in both English and Brazilian Portuguese can be useful in both business and diplomatic settings. Therefore, an opening has arisen for me to provide daily after-school care for my grandson.
Vinny is now four years old and is happily embarked on his second year of preschool. The school day ends mid-afternoon, so that will leave a few hours each day for us to be together before mom and/or dad get home. The Staff Parish Relations Committee of RHUMC has been generous in allowing me to arrange for a short-term leave of absence. Bob and I depart on October 2 and will return on Thanksgiving weekend.
Fortunately, the talents of the members here at RHUMC are many and varied. The grief support group led by Claire Towle is already underway. Nancy Wallis will be offering a wonderful study experience called, “Embracing the Mystery of God’s Love,” which begins soon. Several individuals are generous in sharing their gifts of writing and offering prayers for Sunday worship.
Elsewhere in this newsletter the SPRC shares about arrangements which will supplement the preaching and pastoral care in encouraging and helpful ways. RHUMC has three pastors for a reason, and I am grateful that my absence will not cause an undue burden upon Kristin and Jonathan. I could not ask for more capable, kind, and generous colleagues.
I will miss you all, of course. At the same time, I know that many of you treasure your relationship with grandkids and are also navigating creative ways to be a consistent part of each other’s lives in spite of geographic or other distances involved. We go and we come back as we are needed and able, and the time always flies. I am planning to come back refreshed by the opportunity to live in a “different world” for a while. I’m already looking forward to the Advent season we will share together.
God’s peace to one and all,
