Road Trip with God

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Graduation - 5/18

On Friday May 18th CDSP held its 118th Commencement and Lauren was among the thirteen or so people to receive a degree on a beautiful sunny day. The event was held at 10:30 in the morning and included a Eucharist as part of the program. The Commencement is part two of a two day event. The night before was Baccalaureate which was held in the chapel and was basically the last church service for the graduates. The service is planned by the graduates and I had the privilege to be the the lector for the Old Testament lesson. It was a normal service that followed the traditional order of service with an additional blessing over the graduates as the only addition. The service was then followed by a catered dinner with an awards presentation and a slide show featuring pictures and selected quotations from the graduates. It was a great evening and pretty good food. While Baccalaureate is a fun time it is graduation that is the occasion that everyone looks forward to.

Lauren had to be at the steps of the chapel at 8:00AM for the traditional class picture and then I met up with her shortly after. We proceeded to wait around St. Margret's courtyard of Parsons Hall (the dorm for CDSP) for the next hour and a half. Anticipation and anxiety slowly built up as we patiently waited for the service to begin. Shortly after 9:00AM the rehearsal began and we had the Archbishop of Hong Kong as the presider of the service and the Bishop of Ohio as the preacher, all decked out in their robes and carrying the symbols of their offices. Then promptly at 10:30AM the program began and it was pretty cool. As you will see from the setup from the pictures below that there is a stage with the altar at one end of the courtyard with the graduates sitting on one side of the stage and the faculty and board of trustees on the opposite side and finally the rest of the people (friends and family members) in front of the stage. In all I would say there was about three to four hundred people all in this courtyard. One cool feature of this setup is that a canopy was erected to cover the whole courtyard to shade everyone from the sun. The service took about two and half hours of which the Bishop of Ohio easily preached thirty minutes of that time. When it was all said in done every graduate was hooded, handed their diploma, and ready to take on the next adventure in their lives. We retreated to Denniston Hall (CDSP's refectory that is no longer in use, but serves as a place for gatherings and studying) for a small reception. It was cool to be a part of the events of those two days as it was a preview of what will be my experience in two short years. I was imagining myself with the graduates and my family members in the crowd. To be honest it was pretty cool to daydream for a bit, but I still have two more years of hard work ahead of me.

Lauren and I hung out with her family at the reception but by 1:00PM I had begun to pack the rental car that we had rented for the road trip to Phoenix for her ordination. Graduation was Friday morning and Lauren had to be at her home parish in Chandler by 5:00PM on Saturday for the ordination rehearsal. That meant we had a little over 24 hours to drive roughly 11-12 hours from Berkeley to Phoenix. Our plan was to leave Berkeley by 3:00PM and drive as far as we could, stop for the night and continue the next morning to arrive in Phoenix before noon. I was also motivated to get to Chandler before noon because my favorite soccer team, FC Bayern Munich, was playing the Champions League Final, which is the biggest game in soccer. Some people even think it is bigger then the World Cup Final.

After the reception we packed up the car and went up the hill to Nichols Apartments (more CDSP student housing) because there is a party each year after the graduation service for the graduates. By the time Lauren and I arrived there were easily thirty people there. We hung out there for about an hour and as 3:00PM arrived I began to say my goodbyes, some to people who I would see in the fall and others who I may not see again. For Lauren it was pretty rough as she had to say her goodbyes to her good friends, some of whom she has known for the three years she was at CDSP. As we pulled away a chapter in her life had come to a close and there were tears shed for that loss, but a new one had just begun with new hopes and new dreams for a future yet to come.

We hit the road and drove south on the I5 through the central valley, filled with mile after mile of orchards and cattle farms, and made our way around LA. It was about 10:30 and we were just west of LA when we decided that we should stop in Palm Springs. We pulled up to the Motel 6 in Palm Springs and we crashed for the night. We both knew that we had to wake up early if we wanted to make it to Phoenix in time for the kickoff of the soccer game at noon, so we went to bed excited for the events of the next two days.

The stage in Saint Margret's courtyard, with the red Celtic cross (one of the symbols of CDSP) and my dorm room four floors directly up

The Bishop of Ohio preaching during the service

A picture of the graduates with Lauren tucked away in the crowd

The graduates standing getting ready to proceed to the stage to receive their hood

The President and Dean of CDSP on stage with the Chair of the Board of Trustees as they prepare to confer degrees and hoods

My friend and classmate Jay was the head usher and is in the suit with the red sash, Lauren is the third person to his left

Lauren next in line, I wonder just how nervous she was, don't trip...

Lauren receiving her hood and diploma

Lauren acknowledging her classmates after gracefully stepping down from the stage without tripping...hope I don't trip when its my turn

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Monterey - 4/20-4/22

A view of downtown Monterey's Cannery Row

Lauren and I had the opportunity to spend a weekend down at her uncle's house in Monterey. Her uncle and aunt own a house in Pebble Beach near one of the many golf courses and two blocks from the Monterey Bay. It was a magnificent opportunity to not only get away from Berkeley for a few days but also to get all of our laundry done in one fell swoop. Her aunt and uncle were not at the house at the time, though I would have the pleasure of meeting them both at Lauren's graduation, so we had the huge house to ourselves, including the big screen TV with cable. I only have Netflix and my DVD collection in my room, but we actually got to watch live TV and for me watch the first Red Sox/Yankees series. We mainly hung out around the house watching TV but we did get out to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, since her aunt and uncle have passes we got in free. It was a great last trip before we geared up for the end of the semester and Lauren's eventual departure from CDSP. As I look back over my blog I have realized that during the short nine months since relocating to Berkeley I have experienced a lot of new places. With two more years ahead I hope there is a lot more to see and do out here on the left coast, including Yosemite, more of LA, and if I am truly lucky I would absolutely love to go to Hawaii, but that may be a stretch. (Fingers crossed) Enjoy the pics from Monterey.

A bust of John Steinbeck, Cannery Row's most famous resident

Walking along Cannery Row with the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the distance

View of the bay behind the aquarium

Another view of the bay from behind the aquarium

Lauren outside the main entrance of the aquarium

I think this speaks for itself

Sea otters sunning themselves, we just missed the feeding

Sailboats out on the bay

Jellies!!!

Lauren playing a game in the jellyfish section of the aquarium

I forget what these are but they are pretty cool

More of the same sea creatures

Some deep sea creature that has pulsating lights in its body

Itty bitty seahorses hanging out

A leafy seadragon chillin, blending in with its surroundings

Where does the leafy seadragon end and the plant begin???? It's mind bottling!!!

One more of the leafy seadragon for good measure

"The babies are in a pouch just like a kangaroo!!!"

Looking out down Cannery Row

Lauren and I walked down to the rocks to watch the sunset over the water, unfortunately it was windy, cold, and cloudy...I thought this was Cali??? Where are the warm waters and pretty sandy beaches with surfers and hobos alike????

Making our way down to the rocks

Looking out at the horizon, anyone see a sun?

One of the many sweet houses that line the coast and golf courses

Another view of the horizon, rocks, and water

I think I see the sun, no wait, its just more clouds...bummer

A video of the waters

Our consolation for no sunset...a FaceTime conversation with Will, a bottle of red wine, and homemade chicken parm, not a bad way to end the day and a great weekend

Charlotte, Berkeley Hills, & a Drive-In

Tyler Playing on Will's phone in his karate uniform instead of playing Will and me in Wii Bowling

I thought that will was going to slam right into his flatscreen TV

Look at that follow though...he's been working on his form

Tyler loves riding his bike and has been working on skidding stops

Will standing outside an Irish bar in downtown Charlotte...yes it as like three in the afternoon but there was an important FC Bayern game on so we had to watch it and this was the only place open serving pints at three in the afternoon

For Spring Break I went Charlotte to visit Will and Tyler. Up to that point my classes were in full swing and it was nice to take a break. Before I flew to Charlotte I had to be back home on the Wednesday before the break so that I could head to the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center for the yearly diocesan postulant and candidates retreat. For roughly three days we got to relax and spend some time together up at the camp in New Hampshire. All of the postulants and candidates in the process in the Diocese of Massachusetts were there along with Bishop Tom. It was a great way to start spring break. Then I went back to Waltham for the night so that I could fly to Charlotte for the week. After a week I got on a plane again to fly back to Boston so that the next morning I could fly to San Francisco and back to Berkeley for class. So in a week I had four flights all over the country. Needless to say I was exhausted but glad to be back in Berkeley.

A view from the Berkeley Hills out towards the bay.

Another view of the Bay Area

Another view out from the hills with the Bay Bridge in the center of the photo

Just in case you thought that all we did was go to church and take classes at "Jesus College" we do make room for some fun. Not far from the campus on the other side of the hills there is a two screen drive-in. Lauren and I decided to go because they were showing American Reunion and 21 Jump Street and we were in the mood for funny movies. Now most normal people park their car facing the screen and sit in the front seats but we decided to do it a little differently. each parking spot is on raised pavement so that you can angle the car to maximize the view of the screen. We decided to drop my two back seats and turn the car with the rear door open to watch the movie. As you can see it was still a little cold at night but we had pillows and blankets (including the Red Sox blanket that Lauren made me for Christmas) and most importantly we had dinner. Taking a cue from my family we stopped at Boston Market and loaded up on yummy food to grub on in the back during the movie. We also had snacks and drinks since we knew we would be there for five hours. Fortunately my battery was not dead at the end and we left after having had a great night of movies and food.

Lauren all snuggled into her spot ready for the show

The movie didn't start until around 7:30 because we had to wait for the sun to set, but you can see the screen and other cars parked on the raised pavement

For the last three to four weeks of the semester I worked on the final papers for my classes. In my Pastoral Theology class I had a six to eight page paper where we were given a scenario and we had to respond. There was little research involved but it did take a few hours. For my Intro to Worship we had a three hour timed take home essay that was to be done without any resources, i.e. books, notes, or internet etc. That was not too bad, I will have to wait until I get my grade before I know how I did. For my history class we had to write a twelve to twenty page paper. I wrote about how the top down implementation of Protestant Reforms during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI were met with considerable resistance, but Elizabeth I listened to the voices of the people in determining the direction of her reforms that would eventually become the foundation for the modern Church of England. Whew, that is a long thesis, but it was fun to research and write. It came out to twenty pages so we will see what she thinks about it. Finally for my Leading through Lament paper I examined a pericope from Ezekiel Chapter 19, a leadership theory developed by Chris Lowney called heroic leadership, and the situation occurring at the Charles Street AME parish in Roxbury. This was supposed to be a fifteen page paper that ended up being around twenty. I had a lot of fun researching and writing this one and I hope that the professor thinks it was an interesting argument for lament over failed leadership in a current situation. Because of all of this I actually spent a lot of time in the library. I know this is coming from the guy who tried to see how long I could go before stepping foot into the library. It was worth it.