Valentine’s Day 2018
Dear Family and Friends,
In the 19th century the most famous piece of
advice in America was “Go West, young man.”
Since it is now the 21st century, and we cherish an
oppositional streak, and we are not young, and only one of us is a man, last
year we did the exact opposite and went east. Far to the east.
In early June Mary spent
two weeks at St. George’s College in Jerusalem.
This was a Continuing Education trip, and Mary and several other female
clergy were studying women in the Bible.
They explored a number of places, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the
Galilee, Jericho and the Jordan River, which was neither chilly nor wide (more
like 115 degrees and about four feet across.) She found it a transformative
time, learned a lot, and was grateful for the two or three words of Arabic she
remembered from visiting Chuck and Leslie in Qatar and the seven or eight words
of Hebrew she remembered from seminary.
From the photos she posted on social
media you might get the impression that Israel is inhabited primarily by cats,
but she assures you there are plenty of people there to feed and pet the cats. In addition to cat photos, Mary returned with
a taste for the cooking styles of Israel, most of which seem to involve a lot
of chopping of fresh green things.
A few months later we traveled east together, only this time
we were headed to Greece. To mark our 20th
anniversary we joined a tour of Greece focused on icons. In churches, monasteries, museums, shops and
workshops we saw the stories of the Bible vividly portrayed through the rich
iconography of Greek Christianity. A
trip to the icon workshop where this Theotokos (“God Bearer”) was created led
to an animated conversation with one of the icon writers on technique,
including their method for laying down gold leaf and polishing it to the high
gloss you see in this photo.
There is more to Greece than icons, of course, from ancient
history and Biblical sites to contemporary culture. We were moved by a visit, on the first
anniversary of the death of Doug’s father, to the ancient therapeutic center at
Epidaurus dedicated to the healing God Asklepios, whose name was invoked by
physicians taking the Hippocratic oath for many centuries. Although the Oracle at Delphi predicted only
one thing - that our credit cards would get a workout - we gave her high marks for accuracy.
For Doug a highlight
of the year came at the end of September with the celebration of the 50th
anniversary of the founding of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care. A year of celebrating, including an open
house, a public lecture, and the publishing of a commemorative newsletter,
ended with an elegant private reception at the Virginia Historical
Society. VIPCare was honored by elected
officials at both the State and Federal level.
It turns out that some organizations turn 50 with none of the gray hair
or aches and pains or bifocals or cholesterol that marked the same birthday
anniversary for at least one of the writers of this letter.
Here VIPCare Board president Frances Broaddus Crutchfield joins Doug in receiving a citation for VIPCare from Delegate Betsy Carr.
Mary continues to serve as the Director of Transition
Ministry for the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, where she helps parishes find
the right priest and helps priests find the right parish. On occasion, she gets
a little testy when parishes are hesitant to listen to her wisdom, but more
often than not, it is joyful work. She’s got plenty of other responsibilities
as well, often called in the jargon of the church “other duties as assigned,”
but if she told you what they were she’d have to kill you. Her hobby opportunity
to spend money at art supply stores spiritual discipline is writing icons,
as anyone who follows her on FaceBook has seen. Her Craft Cave in the basement
is her silent place, where she writes icons, prays while she writes, sighs a
lot, and blessedly doesn’t have cellphone reception.
The end result is a work that is dedicated to the glory of God, like this one in progress, a rendering of the 15th century Russian iconographer Andrei Rublev’s Old Testament Trinity.
Our children and grandchildren are happy, healthy, and
living exciting lives. This spring, we were delighted to attend Bryce’s
graduation from law school. Matt and Jenny keep to a hectic schedule driving
Katie and Ben to their various activities. Once again, Katie’s dance troupe
danced at Carnegie Hall! (Practice,
practice, practice) Bryce and Bambi and
the boys are hip-deep into technology, robots, STEM learning and fiercely
competing in board games. Christopher is mixing up a storm in the San Francisco
bay area – he’s now in charge of the cocktail program at a restaurant called
Hog and Rocks, after several years at a pair of high-end Indian restaurants. He
still occasionally asks his mom for a recipe that somehow magically morphs into
a cocktail. Not quite water into wine, but fine stuff nonetheless. Sam and
Inanna are living the North Country life near Stowe, where Sam’s auto body
business, just relocated to a new and larger location, is thriving, and where
they are looking for a larger home to replace their “starter house” as they
plan for the future. Alexandra is deep in the wilds of Bushwick with her pup
JT, working in Queens, and teaching us how the world has changed (possibly even
for the better) since we were in our late twenties.
We’re looking forward to a busy year, as we head south for a
friend’s daughter’s wedding, north for another friend’s son’s wedding, and to
Colorado Springs for our nephew Peter’s wedding to the lovely Carol. Should be
an interesting year with lots of stories to tell – check back and see what
we’ve got to report next year.
In the meantime, come to see us in Richmond. Now that Doug
has completed the patio project, we can even lounge around the back yard and
enjoy a cold beverage as we grill! Doug got a new bike computer for Christmas (after
recording 31,000 miles on the old one) so he claims he’s going to get up off
his knees and get back on his bike, but he promises to be around whenever you
come by.
With our love and best wishes
for a happy 2018,
Mary, Doug, Spooky the cat and the
bees