Five-Year Peer Review

This morning was the meeting of the committee for the peer review required by the Association of Professional Chaplains every five years after board certification. This was my first one, and it was wonderful. I had worked with two of the committee members in the past and am friends with the third, all board-certified chaplains. I briefly felt overcome with sorrow when the meeting began, given the announcement I had to make. I cried. 

It turned out to be wonderful timing, to be held by this lovely and skilled group of human beings at this time of transition. The chairwoman did a wonderful job, as did the scribe. I felt loved, seen and encouraged. As it happens, one committee member is also leaving their job in order to move back to the small town they came from, to be of service to their aging parents. I could hardly have heard anything more bolstering today: I am not alone.

I have been in a group of chaplains or aspiring chaplains countless times over the last ten years. It is always a great experience, and one I may have been having for the very last time today, or not. It is great even if there is a conflict to discuss or if difficult emotions are arising.

Today the question of what I am willing to let go of at this time of a new chapter beginning arose. Until very recently, the answer to that has been: not one dadgum thing, but I see that won’t work, and I now am thinking that I will in fact let go of my apartment. It just does not make sense to have a budget item that large for a place I will visit only now and then, and I really don’t want to spend the rest of my life figuring out which toilet paper is currently on sale.

I spoke with Carol-Joy about how much time I can spend at her place without straining our friendship. She said she will discuss with her husband, but also mentioned that sometimes they just stay at a hotel right across 101 and turn their house over to a guest, or sometimes put a guest up at the hotel. I looked up the price, and if I’m just going to stay there for three or four nights a few times a year, it is quite doable.

So I think I will now start trying to find movers, and get some quotes and figure out if it makes sense to move my stuff or just ship a collection of boxes and give everything else away.

Sayadaw U Tejaniya says if you are observing the doings of the mind, body and emotions with curiosity, and not under the sway of grasping or aversion, there is nothing you need to think about.

Medication testing for Marvin continues: liquid this, powder that, fish flavor the other, in bacon paste, mixed with tuna water; I ordered two more things today and should be able to open my own cat medication store soon.

To be on the safe side, I made an appointment with an animal communicator after hearing a rather astonishing report about her abilities. Fortunately, I’m still in Northern California where everyone knows someone who knows an animal communicator. That might not be the case in Ypsilanti. (This one lives near Seattle. Those are the best ones.) 

I also am in discussion with a vet tech about having her come over the evening before the flight and the morning of, to assist with medication if needed. I have no doubt that I can get everything into Duckworth with ease, and I think I can get some of Marvin’s meds into him, and maybe all, but I would not want to find out otherwise at the last moment.