an irish girl's account on charlottesville and ridiculously awesome people that live there.

to those of you who follow the random recountings of this sometimes absent-minded missionary, my apologies for my lack of postage. we cut off internet access in our house as we're all moving out in a week and my opportunities to have a good amount of time to relay my thoughts have been few and far between.

first off i must give due credit and blog space to my wonderful trip down to charlottesville, virginia to see the beautiful mary and great j. morgan caler a couple weeks ago. as my absence here in the 'burgh was noticed (it's not easy to get away from the chaos), i was asked by many how my visit was. my response? "all the good parts about going home to see your family, that's how it was." josh and mary came and picked me up at the washington dulles airport on friday and we started back on the trek to charlottesville (what friends to travel so much just to see me for a weekend!). we got the chance to catch up on the ride and it of course didn't go without an intellectual discussion on the london terrorist attack and all that comes with living in a free society along with the sociological aspects of empathy relations to societies similar to ones own in terms of ecomonic structuring and racial dynamics. you know, light and witty banter. i got to see their new apartment and meet the great moses jones - their pleasantly plump feline friend. he's awesome and ridiculously spoiled with love as he should be. that night we bopped around downtown charlottesville, ate good thai food, drank good beer, smoked cloves and talked a lot.

saturday morning mair and i got to catch up more and just talk. one of the strangest things about college, especially one that requires on campus living is seeing the same people every day for four years, and then being forced to say goodbye and go seperate ways. nearly every week of every year of college, mair and i had a lunch date. up until a couple weeks ago, we really hadn't seen each other in a year. something about sitting with her that morning felt comforting and like home and i feel blessed to have been given that time. we spent a majority of the day at monticello touring the estate and the grounds which are gorgeous and sight for these sore urban eyes. then we went to a couple markets and went home to prepare what was to be a masterpiece of a stir fry thrown together by the domestic and culinary inclined man of the house. after we were full of good vegetables and udon noodles, a friend from grove city came out and we all watched Cinema Paradiso, a beautiful Italian movie. this was of course followed by more good beer, cloves and a lot more talking out on their balcony enjoying the southern summer night in the company of more june bugs that you could count. this time the subject matter was more theological. josh and i talked about seminary, and anglican tradition and different ways of doing church to sum it up in one sentence. he may be one of the only people i know that i can "discuss" (as to not say argue, b/c we don't argue) all kinds of ideas and issues and concepts with and even though we don't always agree with each other, we respect where each other is coming from and what we have to say and the conversations are always edifying, at least for me, and we never end up mad at each other but usually laughing. seems like that's the way it's supposed to work.

sunday we all went to church and i got to check out where they've been going. we came home and mary made coffee and blueberry pancakes (again, more good food) and we just chilled before it was time to head back to dulles for my flight back. while mary napped (we all got one in over the course of my visit i think) josh and i listened to good music and you guessed it, talked more. overall, the weekend in charlottesville fed me: physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. going to the calers was like going home. they live out the spirit of Christ in their generousity and love and grace and they are constantly pushing themselves individually and together towards a deeper understanding of God's truth in Scripture and the cultural and societal context they find themselves in, at UVA and the world at large. and they read as much as i wish i did and aspire to. they are kindred friends, a great blessing to me, and family to me in all the important senses of the word. i'll scrape by from paycheck to paycheck till i'm old and gray and my teeth fall out, as long as i am so rich as to have people like this in my life.