Home Again!

I am glad Brett and I got to take a road trip together. We have a few favorite sayings now. One night when we went to dinner Brett put on some cologne before we left for the restaurant. While we were ordering the young waitress looked right at him and said, "Someone at this table smells so good." There was this awkward and uncomfortable silence. Then she said, "I'm just saying." Brett and I say that to each other now whenever we want to make a point. "Brett, I think 85 is too fast to drive. I'm just saying." "Mom, I think it is time to hurry up and get on the road. I'm just saying."

This road trip gave us shared memories and a chance to find an easy companionship away from all the things that normally distract us. There is something about communicating while traveling in a car. The intensity of looking each other in the eyes is not possible. Somehow you feel safer to share the more profound parts of life.

Brett leaves on September 13 for a year in Norwich, England.....if he gets his visa. We are still waiting for it to arrive. Skype will be the only way I will get to see him. But I will have sacred memories to draw on.

• Brett and I riding an intertube together down a waterslide in Brandon, SD.
• Brett walking in front of me down steep trails so I wouldn't stumble.
• Brett riding a horse, a look of complete contentment on his face.
• Brett carefully and with great care steering his grandfather's wheelchair down the ramp of the handicap van.
• Brett and I singing our favorite songs together as we traveled.

Now we are home again. What a privilege it is to have a home. What a privilege it is to have a home you love. Bryan was waiting for us and Brett and I are giddy to be here. Brett left fairly soon to catch up with friends and I went over to see Chuck Boyer. He is in his final time and I wanted to have a chance to say good-bye.

I knew of Chuck when I was in high school and he worked for the denomination. When I married Bryan and changed my last name to Boyer many people assumed I was his daughter or daughter-in-law. Bryan used to joke with Chuck at Annual Conference that he (Bryan) should wear a tag that said, "No, I am not Chuck's son but please love me anyway." I never dreamed at that young age that I would follow him as a pastor or that I would be his pastor.

There is something so real about Chuck. With gentleness and acceptance, Chuck spoke his truths and invited others into relationship with him. Chuck had a gift of hospitality. If you had a conversation with him he gave you the feeling that he had all the time in the world and he was hoping to spend it with you. When people in the denomination treated him badly about his call for inclusion, he kept on loving.

It wasn't until I moved here in 2002 that I got to know Shirley Boyer. I am glad they found each other because together they are an amazing duo of warmth and welcome. Shirley has walked through this journey of Chuck's declining health with courage, wit and openness. That is how I found her yesterday. What an amazing woman!

I am so glad I got home in time to see Chuck again. His example and his love have taught me so much. I will be eternally grateful.