dual personalities

I bought these perfectly delightful Turkey cookies after church on Sunday from the Youth Group who was fundraising for some worthy cause. Aren’t they special?

In other news, I was surprised to see that we now have cushions in our pews. Last week we did not.

Taken with my iPhone, excuse me.

The Lord works in mysterious ways, and so does our rector.

We had our leaves blown and vacuumed on Friday. I’m sure my husband is very thankful that he did not have to do it. The yard looks great, although the leaves continue to fall.

Most of the weekend was spent puttering around the old manse, readying it for daughter #2’s arrival on Tuesday.

While cleaning off my desk, I was reminded that on this day four years ago one of my dearest friends died suddenly. We were supposed to have lunch that day but she canceled in the morning because she wasn’t feeling well. Later in the day she went to the hospital. We exchanged a few emails. I was shocked to find out the next day that she had died that night at home in her sleep.

Irene was two years ahead of me in school from kindergarten through high school. We weren’t friends until later when we were both active in the same church. She was a successful realtor when she heeded the call and took off for divinity school in Virginia. She was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church and served in a variety of places. Her last assignment was to my Grace Church. At the time we had an interim who, to be honest, tried our Christian souls. We on the vestry tried very conscientiously to work with him, but then at a vestry meeting, he announced he was leaving (the next day) and that the Bishop had appointed Irene to step in. I was happy to speak up and say I had known her practically all my life and that she was a wonderful person and that we should be thrilled to have her. Everyone breathed a sigh of collective relief. (Several people actually told me that afterwards.)

And Irene truly was a blessing to our church, healing many wounds and reassuring us that we really were okay and not the bad Episcopalians the other guy had inferred we were on a regular basis. For the next 18 months, she guided us through the search process for a new rector who started in June of 2009. She died in November at age 55.

The lesson here is that you just don’t know when anyone might suddenly be removed from your life. So tell everyone you care about that you love them on a regular basis. The last time I met with Irene for coffee I said, “I love you, Irene” when we parted, and I am glad I did. Now every day when I drive by Starbucks on Lindbergh Road, I think of Irene.

* Hymn 573 by Laurence Housman (1865–1959)