New-Old Room

We have a new roommate!

She's a friend of Roommate Laughter's, an alum of my alma mater, and, as so happens, my co-parent in the adopt-a-wing program. We laughed so hard when we realized we share a wing. Just goes to show you when God closes a window, He opens a door. Why would you want to climb out a window if you don't have to anyway?

Since she didn't have a preference as to master room vs. spare room (although the spare room was closer to the price she's been paying in rent), I took the master room.

While I was delighted to have my room back and I've already got all my pictures, plants, and books moved over, I discovered that it might take some time for me to relax into the setting. Last night, after I had the bed assembled in the closet as it used to be, I started seeing things out of the corner of my eye and getting the same sense of unreasoning dread that one might have after watching a really intense horror movie. And I had nightmares of murder and mayhem all night. I guess I should have anticipated that. The last few weeks I'd lived in that room before had been filled with terror and threat. The subconscious remembers what the conscious mind forgets.

I'll have to do a prayer walk or two over the room, the way I used to in college, if I want to reclaim the space. When my high church roommate introduced me to the idea, I scoffed. What's so holy about water, am I right? But it works. I don't think it's the water. I think it's like praying on your knees; the posture causes a kind of focus and the wet fingers, making the sign of the cross, do the same. You have to think about what you're doing.

It'll work out eventually, though.

One thing I'm particularly hoping is that I'll be able to join the work from home program. I spoke to my supervisor and boss yesterday... even though it's late in the season and all the other applications have been processed, they still have room for one more person in October's wave of the homeward bound. I might still be able to get it. That would give me a full hour extra time in a day, which I would have spent driving and could now spend driving someplace else.

I'm planning to spend Mondays on campus. Chapel in the morning, take lunch with the students, and then my running exercises in the gym. Corey M used to always to take lunch with us every Wednesday after he graduated. I didn't even know him when he was a student. It was a way to stay in touch. With the way PHC student-alumni relations have historically been so bad, it seems important to do something to help improve it.

PHC matters to me.