[Magdalen] Still around

[Christopher Hart]

Thanks for sharing all of that news, Suzie. It was so great seeing you and
having lunch together at General Convention. I'm glad I was able to find
that brief moment to introduce you to Meg Warner. Reconnectioning with
friends from around the church is one of the great joys of General
Convention, but this one with a rushed schedule and no visitors was
certainly different.

On Wed, Jul 27, 2022 at 5:31 PM Suzie Buchanan <buchanan.suzie at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Just wanted to poke my head in here to let you all know that I am still
> around. I mostly read Magdalene on my phone and hate typing on it - so I
> hold people in prayer, but don't send out any kind of email response.  But
> right now I find myself at my computer with a little bit of time.
>
> I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with Christopher Hart at General
> Convention.  It was a grueling quick schedule there, so I was very glad we
> had a chance to get a meal in together.  I missed the last two GCs as I
> moved around in dioceses (from NH to VA to WNC) so it had been quite a
> while since my last GC listmeet with him. And it was wonderful to put a
> face with Meg Warner's name.
>
> I have been rector at St. James in Lenoir, NC (Diocese of Western North
> Carolina) for 5 years now.  Next week I start year 6.  The first two of
> those years my husband Rick was still in Richmond VA (where I had spent the
> most painful 3 years of my priestly vocation) so the commuter marriage
> stretched both of our time thin.  I did most of the back and forth travel,
> and made good use of audio books during that time (5 hours drive each
> way).  He moved to NC in the fall of 2019 and we sold our home in Richmond
> and bought one here.  I'm so glad we were in one place together when the
> pandemic hit.  And our new house ended up being pretty ideal for both of us
> to have private work-from-home space.
>
> My parish went back to in-person worship the Sunday after Easter in 2021,
> but we have also maintained our online worship along with that.  I
> currently continue to produce a pre-recorded service each week, as we don't
> have a sound system in the church.  But we're working on that project now,
> so hopefully before the end of this year we can begin to stream our
> worship.  But we are committed to maintaining an online worship component
> of our ministry.
>
> Rick retired last October (second retirement - first was after 20 years in
> the Navy, and this one was from the IT department of Union Presbyterian
> Seminary).  I have a few more years before I can begin to consider
> retiring, so hopefully a sabbatical next year will help recharge my soul
> and help keep me going.  I'm weary- I think that's the best word to
> describe how I'm doing: Weary.
>
> The youngest of our children, my daughter, just turned 39 this past week -
> time keeps moving on!  She and her guy Dave live in northern New
> Hampshire.  Rick's three kids all live around the Boston area (2 of the 3
> are married, each with 2 children - so 4 grands up there).  My son, his
> wife and 2 kids live on the Big Island of Hawaii.
>
> And now I am out of time!  I'm out here - quietly following this
> now-pretty-quiet list.  Not at all like the old days of the fire hose!  But
> I still love seeing your names pop up and hearing about what is happening,
> and what you're thinking.  And most of all - holding you all in prayer.
>
> blessings
> Suz
>


-- 

Christopher Hart

List Mail Address: cervus51 at gmail.com
Personal Mail: cervus at veritasliberat.net
Twitter: @cervus51