"You looked like a metronome on fire!"
Preparing for Evensong at the Sewanee Church Music Conference
I was thurifer at the Friday Evensong (meaning I didn’t get to sing any of the music I had been rehearsing all week, unless you count my impressive sotto voce performance of the anthem, “In the Year That King Uzziah Died,” by David McK. Williams—I didn’t even need a score). I did sing with the choir at the Sunday Eucharist, but since I administered a chalice during Communion I missed the Palestrina “Sicut cervus.”
Next year, if I’m assistant chaplain again (and that’s the plan), I shouldn’t try to be part of the choir also. It was just too much. I put in more than one fourteen-hour day (I’m including social time in that, but still), and it was exhausting. It led me to my first serious use of the phrase “I’m not as young as I used to be.” I also didn’t get to do any hiking, though I did work in two virtual sessions with my trainer.
It was still a glorious conference. I enjoyed the singing tremendously, and I got to know some wonderful new folks alongside renewing and strengthening friendships with people I knew already. I got to offer sacramental ministry and was welcomed into serious pastoral conversations.
As I was leaving Sewanee I got a notification that my flight to DC had been canceled. About an hour later they let me know that they had rebooked me on a 6:00 flight the next morning. Ugh. I put in a call to the Platinum Service Desk—might as well get some use out of the status I’ve attained by all that commuting between Tampa and DC—and was told by the usual automated voice that the wait time to speak to an agent would be unusually long, but I could leave a number for them to call me back when my turn came up.
Four hours later—there must have been a ton of flights canceled on Sunday—I spoke to an agent who confirmed that there was really no alternative. By then I had already accepted my fate and checked into the Nashville Airport Hilton for the night. Naturally, I didn’t sleep well, but I did get in to DC in plenty of time to have my realtor show me some condos.
I quite liked the first one I saw. Its big selling point for me is the view.
If you know what you’re looking for, you can see the spire of Georgetown’s Healy Hall in the distance.
I can’t make up my mind whether to buy it or not. It would definitely stretch my budget: I can get a furnished apartment in the same building I lived in last year for much less, and of course I would have to furnish this. Yet I really like the idea of having my own place, with things in it I’ve chosen, and no need to look for a new place to land each year.
I think I’ll head over there now and walk prayerfully around the neighborhood and see if I gain any clarity.
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