Goodbye – Hello

(Circa 2009)

Goodbyes … they began in earnest. Why do goodbyes have to break your heart into little pieces? But, on the other hand, if they don’t break your heart, it means your relationships haven’t gone very deep. So, oddly, I’m grateful that my heart was breaking.

My mind launched into overdrive too. I had only 2 ½ weeks to arrange for my new living situation, wrap up my job in Flagstaff and prepare for my new job in Carefree.

And it was time to begin the painful process of the most difficult thing of all:

“GOODBYING”

No one could have been loved better than I was loved. Besides dinners and luncheons and gifts and cards and hugs and tears, the church held a huge dinner in my honor. About 150 people attended.

After dinner the presentations began. Several people spoke in my honor; the worship team sang a song they wrote for me and they gave me a beautiful scrapbook; the children’s bell choir played a song; my co-workers did a hilarious presentation; the prayer shawl ministry gave me a lovingly hand-knitted prayer shawl. To top it all off, the “Kids’ Prayer Force” (consisting of kids from about 5 to 12 years old) gathered around Bill and me (and even our dog, Binki), laid hands on us and prayed for us. My heart melted at their simple, heartfelt prayers for us.

And the church gave me a money tree and a beautiful scrapbook containing sweet notes from church members, expressing their love and appreciation for me. One of the girls who had grown up in the church and had moved to Florida, was visiting Flagstaff and stayed an extra week just so she could make me a very special cake.

It was such a humbling experience. I had worked at Trinity Heights United Methodist Church for 14 years. This wasn’t just a job – this was family. I had poured out my heart there and they had tenderly cared for me and Bill – and now I had to leave. But the sweet memories would forever live as a poignant echo in my heart – the warm smiles, the heartfelt prayers the laughter and the church motto: “Holy Fun”. All I could do was accept their love and thank God for such a sweet, unforgettable “goodbye”.

And that’s what I had to do. It was time for a new beginning…

“HELLO” TO MY NEW “HOME”

Shannon and Gabe (and their dog, Mikey) had bought a small, two-bedroom, two-bath, 1100 sq. ft. upstairs condo in Phoenix and they welcomed me with open arms. Their home was a peaceful haven for me during that tumultuous time in my life.

We were still trying to sell our house in Flagstaff so our plan was for Bill to stay in Flagstaff. During the week I stayed with Shannon and Gabe in Phoenix (a 45 minute commute to my job) and drove back to Flagstaff on the weekends (140 miles). So, my summer was spent – in the car – commuting. I did learn to enjoy the commute, however. It became a special time for me to pray and crank up the volume of my worship music and sing my heart out to the Lord. And in the process, I also gained a deep appreciation for (drum roll…) AIR CONDITIONING!

We knew that eventually we would buy a house in Phoenix and that we would need a local realtor. Some friends of ours introduced us to a very special realtor whose name is Mike, a wonderful Christian guy. He doesn’t just help with real estate transactions. No, he treats his job as a ministry and has taken care of us in many ways. One evening God sent him to me …

Those six months were very difficult. Neither Bill nor I were handling our situation very well. I was so far away from him, powerless to help. One evening as I was on my way “home” to Shannon & Gabe’s my heart was in turmoil. I was hungry so I decided to stop at Taco Bell. I pulled into the parking lot and turned off the motor. Before getting out of the car, I had the craziest, most random thought. I have no idea where it came from but I thought “wouldn’t it be funny if Mike was here.” I looked over at the car next to me. The car door opened, and out stepped Mike! I mean, out of the nearly five million people in the Phoenix metropolis and far from where he lived, there was Mike! I broke out in tears.

And there, inside Taco Bell, over a couple of tacos, I poured out my heart to him. I can’t remember exactly what he said but he “talked me down off the ledge” and prayed with me. Afterward I was at peace and I knew God had everything under control.

“HELLO” TO MY NEW JOB

How could this be? In a non-existent job market (in 2009) at 62 years old, with, I was told, around 150 applicants for the job, Desert Hills Presbyterian Church chose me to be their Office Manager! This was nothing short of a miracle!

May 11, 2009 dawned bright and beautiful. I dressed in my best first-day-starting-a-new-job-outfit (whatever that might be), applied my make-up as perfectly as possible and headed north to Carefree, my heart beating wildly in my chest. I parked my car and took a deep breath. The famous scene from “Sound of Music” flashed through my memory. I envisioned myself as Maria, valiantly marching toward Captain VonTrapp’s intimidating mansion on her first day as governess, convincing herself that “I Have Confidence”, her faltering steps belying her confidence.

My fear rapidly vanished as I was greeted by the warm, welcoming church staff members. They were happy that I was there and expressed how excited they were to work with me. And as the day progressed and various church members came into the office, they were as equally friendly.

My ability to remember names is appalling and I worked hard to remember the names of all the people I met. I wrote down their names on a notepad as discreetly as possible as soon as I met them and studied the list every night before bed. Over time, I became fairly proficient – and with a large church, that’s quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself.

It was a wonderful place to work! The church staff was such a great team and for the next nine years we worked together, laughed together and sometimes even cried together. And the church members welcomed me with open arms. Desert Hills Presbyterian Church became my family too. Our hearts were truly knit together.

A BEAUTIFUL PLACE

The church is located in Carefree, Arizona. It’s a small, affluent community tucked away in the far northeast corner of the sprawling Phoenix metropolis. It is a lovely rural area and the church is built into the base of a distinct rock formation called “The Boulders”.

Each morning some kind of wildlife greeted me: families of quail strutting across the street in a straight line, their comical head feathers bobbing as they strutted, rabbits darting through cactus, roadrunners, complete with coyotes chasing them – I think I even heard one squawking “beep beep” (nah). And, yes, there was an assortment of snakes and lizards and scorpions (oh my)!

There was a resident chuckwalla (a very large, fat lizard) at the church lovingly named “Chuckie” and his wife, “Mrs. Chuckie”. They enjoyed sunning themselves on the rocks and doing little lizard pushups. They even had some baby Chuckies.

A couple of times we had visits from a beautiful family of deer and occasionally some ugly javelinas. Stately coyotes would sometimes wander through the property too. And every now and then, we would discover a rattlesnake lurking among the rocks and even a gila monster that lived in a drainage pipe next to the office entrance.

Yes, my new desert surroundings were a world apart from my beautiful pine-studded mountain town. BUT I had to learn to embrace my new life.

GOODBYE, HELLO!

Life is filled with goodbyes and then hellos. And without goodbyes, hellos can’t be uttered. Creation even exhibits that.

Every sunset bids goodbye to its day. Every sunrise says hello to a new day. Creation shouts “goodbye” to summer with a crisp breeze, splashing earth with its farewell hues of autumn before whispering “hello” to winter with her soft white blanket of freshly fallen snow.

I had to lovingly embrace my goodbyes – but let them go. Then, with a faith-filled greeting, I had to step boldly toward my new hello. God designed my new path and gave me the strength to walk on it. And my new path led me to places I could never have imagined.

Goodbye – hello, goodbye – hello. Yes, God was always there – even in the desert.