Spring in Ohio

I took this picture outside the dorms at Trinity back in April... forgot it was on my camera until just recently. 

And So Now It Is Hot

I was in San Antonio two weeks ago and it was pretty bad - hot, hot, hot. It was anywhere from 95 to 100 degrees plus really humid. It was bad. It also made Albuquerque seem warm and pale in comparison. Then I came back here to Ohio where it has been warm but not too bad... until now.

It has been a little humid here but the temperatures have been in the 80s and not so bad... but now it is really humid here and the temperatures are now in the 90s with the high temp getting up to 97 on Tuesday (or so they say). It is starting to be reminiscent of San Antonio. Oh well, that’s what air conditioning is for I believe. =)

Now that I’ve discussed the weather, here’s the medical update:

I saw my doctor here on Friday. She drew blood and had me go for an MRI Friday evening. The results aren’t in for any of it, so I’m still in the dark as to why my head still hurts.

I’ll let you know more later.

Kate

Interesting Conversations

On Tuesday while I was flying back here to Ohio, I boarded the plane in Albuquerque and it turned out that a very interesting woman was sitting next to me. Now, I must preface this with the understanding that I do in fact have something tatooed across my forehead in invisible ink that says please tell me your life story or what you are having problems with. I know this and some times it is very apparent to me. So this woman sitting next to me is obviously frustrated. She’s later getting on the plane, there is no room for her luggage in the bin over our seats nor the bins immediately around us, she tries shoving the bag under the seat but of course it doesn’t fit... finally a flight attendant comes to her rescue and tells her that she has room for the bag in one of the bins in the back of the plane. The woman yanks and pulls before finally extracting her bag from under the seat and then hands it off to the flight attendant. Almost as soon as she sits down, she tells me that I’ve won the lottery (in reference to her sitting next to me, I’m sure she was being sarcastic) and immediately starts to unload everything which instigated an interesting conversation.

The first thing she did was hold up a huge water bottle two-thirds full of water. She then tells me that the water in the bottle is holy water from a church - and that they radiated it... now it’s ruined she tells me. Ok. She goes on, I hate this airport. “The guy at security told me I could either radiate it or drink it. No other choice. So I sent it through.” She continues, “I’m an energy healer and the radiation ruined the energy in the water. It’s ruined!”

That’s a new way of looking at holy water for me. The entire time she’s telling me this, I’m wondering how I can go back to reading my book. I still have a headache and I’m tired, I’m not feeling particularly... can’t I just be left alone? But I feel the need to respond to the idea that the water is ruined. So after she goes on about how she doesn’t know if I’m a Christian or not (she must not have looked at my “Got Christ?” shirt that I was wearing) but that it is definitely good stuff, I respond. I ask her if she really thinks the water is ruined - duh, didn’t she just say that an hour ago? So then I respond with, “I don’t think the water is ruined. I believe in a God that is more powerful than anything, including x-ray machines.” After I say that, she grabs the bottle and says, “I guess it isn’t ruined, it still has good energy, I can feel it.”

I don’t know... I really wasn’t feeling terribly well and only wanted to either read or close my eyes and rest. Now this lady is telling me everything that has gone wrong and that she is an energy healer. I’m not sure I believe in that sort of thing... and now that I’ve relayed a point of grace about the holy water, she changes her mind, it isn’t ruined anymore, it still has good energy, she can feel it. I want to know that if she can feel it, than why didn’t she feel it before and come to that conclusion on her own?

This is probably not my most shining example of an internal conversation. But it is very human. But so is my desire to question everything. The second I thought how crappy the thought of an energy healer is, I also thought about how crazy the idea of God seems some days of the week. I’m still a little leary about the whole energy healer thing...

I eventually did get back to my book, but not before the woman unloaded some more on me. It was alright though... it also helped remind me that you can spread the gospel and impart a word of grace in any place.

Kate

It's been a very busy time...

I realize it has been close to three weeks since I last posted, so here's a little bit of what I've been doing.

I traveled back to New Mexico at the beginning of the month - on the 7th actually. I was in New Mexico for about four days before leaving to attend the ELCA National Youth Gathering in San Antonio, TX with my home congregation. We were there for about a week and then I spent another week in New Mexico before finally flying back to Ohio last night. During that final week in Albuquerque, I wrote and preached a sermon and a friend from CPE last summer visited. I also managed, somehow, to get a headache that I still sort of have (it is six days running now) but it is mostly gone which is good. I went to the ER on Saturday night and now I have to follow up with a neurologist here in Ohio. So really, the last weekend I was there blew because often I just felt nasty (headache and occasionally nauseous), but it's all right. I'm feeling a lot better now, not quite so icky and the headache is mostly gone. But now I'm at work in the computer lab for an unbearably long time... I forgot how boring this job can be when you have nothing to do! =)

In other news, here's a picture from San Antonio. Erik and I are on a roller coaster, but I guess that there is something out of place in the picture. You tell me...

So that's probably about it for now... I'm sure I'll post more later. More reflection type stuff...

Kate

Travels

I’m currently sitting in Chicago’s O’Hare airport waiting for my flight to Albuquerque. I tend to learn new things when I travel and the recent past is no exception.

I spent some time this past week with my family in Kansas and as I was driving there and then back again, I noticed a few things that amused me. I also noticed a definite international motif to my drive. For example, if I asked where Brazil is, you might answer it is a country in South America. While you would be correct, I would also be correct in identifying it as part of Indiana. Also, Paris is not only in France but also in Illinois. Furthermore, Mexico no longer lies below the Southern border of the United States, it is also in Missouri. I have often noted that, particularly in this part of the country, there seems to be a lack of creativity for city/town names. There must be a dozen (or more) Springfields throughout the country with one in many of the states in this region. There is a Lancaster, OH and a Lancaster, PA (they are pronounced differently though...). I have been told, but have not checked, that there are really two Bainbridge, Ohios. I have to wonder if the people who settled those towns thought to themselves, What is my favorite place in the world? Where would I like to live? Ooooh, maybe Mexico, or Paris, or Lancaster... I’ll name this new town where I would like to live. Or perhaps it just happened by coincidence, I don’t know (but somehow I doubt it).

So, for now, I’m off to the only city in the country (that I know of) named Albuquerque. The city was named after the Duke of Alburquerque (note the extra r after the first u)... so maybe the other cities were named after people with the same unoriginal name. Who knows. I could probably figure out some of these things if I really wanted to, but at this point I’m not sure it’s worth the extra effort. I think at the moment I’m content to live in the mystery and the random musings of my brain. =)

Kate