Part One Of INDY BOUND

Ok hello Virginia. Back at the house, back sitting at the dining room table- and on my feet Gracie lays curled up on the floor just wanting to be close. It's a great feeling. In the highs and lows of life- and in closeness and in distance, you kind of forget that things can be this simple.

Indianapolis. Wow. It was such a great experience. In all my recent traveling I have flown, so to take a road trip was actually quite fun. I went a little out of the way on Friday and went to Columbus, OH to have lunch with Mark at the Cheesecake Factory. There was something very normal about hanging out with Mark and going to lunch, but also this twinge and twist of nature because we were in Ohio. While the visit didn't last very long, I felt like we were able to catch up and I would hope were a mutual encouragement to each other. I laughed as I drove away listening to the CD he put together for me, and just remembered our summer O chaos/fun at Rockbridge. A CD could not be adequately compiled if it were missing "Umbrella" (which thankfully I now have three versions all on this CD), "Glamorous" which brings back the recent memory of Florida, and "Jesus Take The Wheel", which was our anthem in a lot of ways.

I then hit the road again and made my way to Indy to be with Emily and Perry for the weekend. They got married last December the weekend before Christmas, and I flew in for it from CT where I was spending some pre-holiday time with my Dad. I had never met Perry before, and a quick trip out there the weekend of the wedding was not going to be a great vehicle to get to know him much more then "hey you look great in a Tux, love my friend forever or I'll kill you"! Ha. So in wanting desperately to see Emily, I got this great added bonus of hanging out with her husband--and all in months before their first baby, a son Jude, arrives. A great thing about visiting a friend such as Emily is, it has nothing to do with what you DO. It's just about being together. This was refreshing to me, to be with someone who knows just about everything about me, has shared some really challenging transitions, heartache and grief with--and we can just laugh. Being with Perry was a comfort to my heart, because now he's part of my family too- and I know that there is more to him then the tux and my empty threat of killing him if he ever hurt her. He's a great guy, and I look forward to many years of fun weekends such as this past one.

I went to church with them on Sunday, and my heavens...I absolutely loved it. I felt like the only one in the service and that the whole thing was just about me. While I can be extremely self centered, this time I really felt like it was the Lord and I just hanging out talking about some important issues. From the selection of worship music, to the message the Pastor presented I felt spoken to, guided, challenged, encouraged, and just Loved. Do we move somewhere for the church? While not the newest thought in the modern world, I seriously sat there and wondered about that. I wish I knew the true answer to that question, but in light of the weekend I was left pondering all things Indianapolis.