After weeks of eager anticipation, we never made it to the St. Herman pilgrimage- Era Aviation overbooked our flight to Kodiak! Thursday night I had been able to get an online boarding pass for Lesa, but when I tried to get mine all that came back was, “Sorry, there has been an error in processing your request. Please check in at the airport.” We got to the airport an hour early, but everyone else had got there sooner- Lesa had a confirmed seat, but I did not. What a shock- never had that happen before.
Lesa wasn’t going to go without me. They asked for a volunteer to give up their seat in return for a comp. ticket, but there weren’t any takers. We gave up Lesa’s seat in return for a comp. ticket, in addition to a 12-month “rain check” extension for the two tickets we had already paid for. A lady standing next to us was thrilled to get Lesa’s seat- she was with the United Way, and was due to meet some folks from Washington, D.C. in Kodiak.
Of course we acknowledged that this must have been God’s will for us, but it still knocked us off balance for the rest of the day. We had looked forward to the pilgrimage with so eagerly for so long that when we found ourselves still in Anchorage it was almost like one of those SF stories where someone finds themselves in a “parallel universe”… everything looks the same, but something just isn’t quite right- I’m not supposed to be here.
Ah well… we’ll go another (and probably quieter) time.
This was the week of the annual “Eagle River Institute”. We attended a few of the lectures, fixed dinner for the out-of-town folks one night, and had Dr. Veniaminov and subdeacon Michael Habib over for tea one morning. In addition, there were the Vespers and Liturgy services for the feast of the Transfiguration.
And, Monday evening an old Jr/Sr. high school friend of Lesa’s arrived from Tennessee to stay with us for awhile as he looks for work and starts a new life up here.
There was one change in the direction of lightening my load… on Tuesday I had the final session of the final class in the paralegal education program I’ve been working on since last November. Yeah! I still have one exam and three assignments to finish for the class- after that I begin the study-prep class for the certification exam, which will be administered in December.
Coming attractions include the Dormition Feast this Saturday, a wedding the next day, the Alaska State Fair (with volunteer time at St. John’s bookstore/gifts booth) and then my nephew’s wedding in Salt Lake City on Labor Day weekend.
! Life is good.
Filed under: Personal
