It was a great joy to be back with you at UUCL yesterday! What a blessing it was to hear “we missed you,” to get so many hugs, smiles, and questions about my vacation.

I had a fantastic vacation! I visited my best friend from high school. We hadn’t seen each other in 23 years, which is really just ridiculous. We grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, but she lives in LA now. I had never been to LA. It was definitely an interesting place! But most of all, I was thankful that my friend and I clicked back together again like no time had passed at all. We had so much fun together! From there, I flew to see my cousin in Boise, ID. It’s been years since I’d seen her, as well. Again, time had no influence on our ability to keep a conversation going without pause (except to sleep) and we had so much fun just relaxing, taking mini-adventures, and being as silly as two middle aged women can be! We even spent 3 hours floating down a real life, all natural lazy river in the mountains. What an absolute gift that was!

All of this made me realize how important it is to nurture our closest relationships–the ones that lift us up and help us remember who we are and how we belong. It made me realize that I should never use the excuse “I’m just too busy to go visit…”. And after the past year I had–a breast cancer diagnosis and the loss of my brother–I have gained very deep insights into how I need to tend to my own life now that I am post-seminary and am settling into a more “normal” schedule.

And so, while my work at UUCL is vitally important to me and who I am, and while all of you are important to me and I want to honor all the ways in which you support me, I have realized that I need to balance that with maintaining the connections with the other people who are also vitally important to who I am and how I belong in this world. Ultimately, this is essential to me being able to do the very best job I can do for the UUCL community. Tending to my own life and the important relationships outside of UUCL that remind me of how I belong to this world will support me and keep me healthy so I can do the good work for Unitarian Universalism with all of you. I guess what I am trying to say is, you may see a little less of me this year (in other words, not every single Sunday despite the fact that my contract has always said I get one Sunday off a month). But, you will get more of me–the less stressed, less tired, at the end of my rope me. You will get a more thoughtful and happier me. And a me that wants to encourage you to find your healthy boundaries so you can show up for UUCL, for our vision, and for our mission, in the best ways possible!

Take care and I’ll see you soon!