[Magdalen] Anyone Here?

[Suzie Buchanan]

I’m here although I rarely post anymore. I read. I pray. I give thanks for the connections I continue to have thru magdalen. I’m realizing that not posting much means that I know others better than they know me. I run across Tom Rightmeier regularly at diocesan stuff and he has no idea who I am although I know him from St Sams. 

I’m in the final two weeks of a challenging two years of commuter marriage. Rick continued his IT work for Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond while I began work 300 miles/5 hours drive south as Rector of St James in Lenoir NC in August 2017.  I have made the commute every other week and am so tired of that and the daily FaceTime as the best way of staying connected with Rick. We have now sold the house in Richmond (closing is in two weeks) and he and the two big dogs (Labs) will move in with me in my little 750 sq ft duplex I have been renting. We are looking for a new home but there is not much on the market right now. He will commute three days a week to the Seminary’s Charlotte campus for probably at least the next 6 months to get them through a big system change. 

I love my parish and new community. Love the Diocese of Western North Carolina. I had a very hard time in Richmond at my parish there - had to address issues of lack of transparency in finances along with a very dysfunctional alcoholic parish culture. Dare I say that out loud?  Yes. When you can’t have a parish event of any type without an OVERabundance of alcohol . . . You have a real problem. Some really amazing things about the parish as well, but I had to address those two issues which made me less than “beloved.”  I am also not a flat-land or a city girl. I am so much more at home in the foothills of the mountains of North Carolina and this small town. This has been a really good fit. Two years in and they still can’t believe they got me as their rector, and I can’t believe I get to be in ministry with them. It’s a healthy active parish that is much more involved in the community than involved in church committees. I like that. 

Tomorrow I drive back to Lenoir after spending the 4th of July here in Richmond with Rick. Not much left to pack. I’ll fly up next time so I can drive the rented truck with the rest of our stuff on my final trip to Richmond  (I did the trip like this a few weeks ago to clear most things so we could get the house on the market - got two offers in less than 24 hours). We filled one storage unit at that point. Have a second one waiting for round two.   Hopefully we’ll find the right new home soon!

Blessings!
Susan