Saying Goodbye

 Dear PUUF friends,

As I get closer to my moving date, I want to express my gratitude to you for your love, your cooperation, your energy, your smiles and encouragement, your interest in my life and future, and also to make it clear(er) what our relationship will be from now on.

As of July 1, I will not be your minister; Rev. Mira will be your minister and I will be part of your history.  This is the way ministers and congregations have parted for a long time.  I have a professional duty to my colleague Rev. Mira to stand aside and let her create her own relationships within PUUF.

In a small community like ours, it's hard to let a close relationship change, but change it must.  I need to let go and so do you, to make it the best possible welcome to Rev. Mira when she starts with you in July.

This does not mean we don't care for each other any more.  It means, instead, that we care for each other in a new way:  I care very much that you form a relationship with Rev. Mira that fosters growth in PUUF and a new vision of what you can contribute to the community.  I know that you care very much for how the rest of my life goes, and I appreciate that caring.  You have given me a great deal of support and love over the past 10+ years and it has helped to make me strong enough to serve you to the best of my ability as I age. I am grateful for that support and love. It will carry me for the rest of my life.

Thank you for helping me with my move, which has proved to be more complicated and expensive than I expected.  Your willingness to help me pack and tote boxes and sort my mementos has been crucial in my preparation to make this change in my life.

I expect to return briefly to officiate Cliff LaMear's Celebration of Life in July, as Rev. Mira will not be available.  And Rev. Mira and I will sit down together in the next weeks to create a covenant of how our relationships with you and with each other can be most healthy and productive.  

My schedule for the move is that we will load the UHaul truck, with the help of volunteers and a couple of hired hands to help with the heavy lifting, this coming Friday. 

When the truck is full and ready to roll, Bob and Karin Webb will take it to their house overnight and bring it back to my Alderbrook home Saturday morning, from which we will leave for Vancouver and my new home.  

I am grateful to the volunteers (the Webbs, Dan Vernon, Ellen Norris, Veja Lahti, Laura Janes, and many other volunteers) who have offered their help in this long stretch of preparation.  Thank you all so much.

 

I love you.

Kit