[Magdalen] Anyone Here?

[Marilyn Cepeda]

So glad to hear from you and hear your news. Glad the new place is a good
fit for you!  Thank goodness for FaceTime!

Marilyn

On Fri, Jul 5, 2019 at 8:25 PM Suzie Buchanan <buchanan.suzie at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
> --
Marilyn (Owens, Palmero) Cepeda