Rest for the Weary - November 5, 2009

Jim and I are retired. Well, in the sense that neither of us holds fulltime jobs now, we are retired. Jim does not hold full responsibility for a congregation of Christian believers; nor does he have to plan a sermon every week, or be the end of the line for "the buck" when something goes wrong. I do not have to make regular lesson plans, deal with middle-school students, or talk to their parents on a regular basis. That means that we have nothing to do, right? Wrong!

For the last two or three years we have staggered "from pillar to post" under the burden of several unusual concerns. We have balanced them on our shoulders, shifted the burden onto our hips, formed a sling between us to allocate the weight of the package evenly. We have tried denying that the large package exists; we have even disguised it as furniture in an effort to forget it. We have tried balancing it, juggling it, shelving it, and propping it; but, in the time-honored tradition of burdens everywhere, ours remained firmly on our own shoulders.

About a month ago one of the boulders in our heavy bundle began to disintegrate; so, in our enthusiasm, we began to plan a "get away" to celebrate the lightening of the load. This week we will put down our now almost-empty, light-as-a-feather, package and forget about it for twelve days. Today we leave Rome, GA to to fly to Venice, Italy and spend 12 days on a cruise ship. We will cruise on the Medierranean, Ionian, Aegean, and Adriatic Seas and visit ports in Italy, Croatia, Turkey and Greece before disembarking in Rome, Italy and taking a flight back to GA. We are anticipating 12 days of reading, writing, sleeping, touring, and vegging. We look forward to being fed, entertained, guided, taught, and pampered.

So -----We're off to flee the blizzard -- uh -- tree the lizard ---- uh ---- be the gizzard -- uh -- oh yes -- We're off the see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Ahhhhs.