Oh, I'll stay away from her, but I can't guarantee that she'll stay away from me.

for 2 years, the pacific northwest campus of golden gate baptist theological seminary has been my second home... it's been the one thing that has stayed consistent when jobs, churches, friends and life have changed... it's been a place of joy, sadness, frustration and excitement... many meaningful conversations and learning experiences have taken place not only in classrooms, but over the lunch table and the ping pong table...

this is the first time i haven't started school in the fall since 1985... i'm used to starting school, buying school supplies... not this year... i thought it should feel great... i thought i would feel freedom... and i kind of do, but i'm also sad...

to my advantage and disadvantage, the building where i work houses the school i went to... so a lot of my remaining seminary friends are literally just down the hall, which is great... i was down there earlier, hanging out and talking to people i hadn't seen all summer...

but it's different... when they talk about stuff from class, i won't have the base for the conversation... our discussions will be limited to what's going on in life... which can also be good... it's just not the same... today, i saw a friend from seminary whose baby died unexpectedly at the end of last semester from sids... i thought, "what in the world do i say? do i act like nothing happened or do i ask about it..." i didn't want to bring up the pain, so i didn't ask about it... i felt like he was expecting me to, but i didn't... i won't get to journey with him this year through that like i would have if we'd been sitting in a pastoral care class together...

i'll admit, i've been down to that end of the hall a lot more today than i normally would be down there... i even made cinnamon rolls for everyone (even though i can't eat them because of la weight loss)... maybe i still want to hold on, is that wrong?

it was kind of cool to see everyone, though... a lot of people don't know i graduated... so they think i'm still in... others know and still love me anyway... i may try to go down on mondays and tuesdays and eat lunch... we'll see...