Candidating: Wednesday

Yesterday Jan took the day off from work to join me (well, just possibly because she wanted to meet the knitting group).

We drove down in the late morning arriving in time for a brown bag lunch with a pretty good-sized crowd.

Then I met with the women’s alliance for about half an hour, after which they kicked me out and visited a bit more with Jan.

Then a good long meeting with the senior staff, while Jan wandered off and visited what we hope would be our neighborhood library. Throughout this experience I’ve been impressed with the religious educator, administrator and music director. Should this turn out the way I hope it will, this is a gang I can work with. We spent our time together plotting and scheming what we might be able to do next year. Very exciting.

Then Jan & I went up to Thayer Street, which is the local campus hangout neighborhood. The other day I’d noticed some signage promising burritos. This is important as one of our quests in relocating will be to find decent Mexican food, which is comfort food to native Californians. Actually, it was too early for our stomachs. But if we wanted to eat before ten, we knew we’d need to do it now, and so found the store, and ate. Turns out the Mexican counter is in a large space shared with a pizzeria. Not precisely authentic (“authentic” is quite a bit rarer than people might think. In fact we weren’t looking for that rare bird “totally authentic,” but rather that crossed-the-border-cuisine Mexican and other Americans will generally expect in a heavily Hispanic influenced area. This wasn’t quite either.) But for a quick lunch burrito, certainly okay. When I want something fast and more healthy than not, they will see me again.

We took a walk along Thayer street admiring the youth and the stores and noting the restaurants. We poked about for a couple of minutes, well one of us did, in a bead store. The other one of us waited patiently…

We were back in time for Jan to join the knitting group and for me to meet with the worship committee. Their responsibilities are quite a bit different than I’ve ever been used to, but intriguing and no doubt for me, folk I also feel comfortable working with.

Lastly, I met with the social action ministry, the cluster of folk representing most of the social justice projects associated with the First U. Typical of us, a wide range of activities, including some hands-on and some more policy-oriented. I described my desire to work toward marriage equality in Rhode Island as a major project and my willingness to support other projects, as well.

We drove home.

And, sadly, I rummaged through the refrigerator and ate what was virtually a next meal.

Gotta watch that…

Today I’ll be here in the Newton area running a few errands then turning my attention to Sunday’s sermon. Later this afternoon I’ll drive down to meet with the Prudential Committee.

Hard to believe we’re about half-way through candidating week.