« October 2006 | Main | December 2006 »
Got an email recently from Jack Zavada who posted a really nice review of my first book, The Single Truth, on his web site.
Also, I heard through the grapevine that they'll be selling Single Truth at Urbana this year. Evidently, one of the sessions will be on being a single missionary, and they're recommending it. Very cool! Look for it if you happen to be there.
Here is another little bit from the book, one of my favorite experiences. (Or at least, one of my favorite stories to tell from the trip.) You can tell that I have made some changes. I've put everything in present tense, and am writing it in the form of a journal. Enjoy!
For those who don't know, Godmersham was Jane's brother Edward's grand house in Kent. He's the brother who was adopted by wealthy relatives and inherited their estates. Godmersham is very close to Canterbury.
Sunday, July 25, 6:43 P.M.
on the couch at Margaret’s
Margaret has made me promise never to hitchhike again. She laughed at me, of course (which I had no problem with, because I was laughing at myself anyway), and has refused my help with dinner, sitting me on the couch with tea and biscuits while she makes quiche. I will miss her tomorrow when I leave. The view of Godmersham from the fields was worth everything.
It’s been an ugly day—both for me and the weather. I wore my green cropped sweatpants and dark red tank, which would have been okay, except that I had to wear my hiking shoes with it, which threw the whole outfit off, and then it was so cold I had to put on my red fleece, which clashed with everything, and it was raining off and on so I kept putting on and taking off my rain jacket, which clashed with the fleece, and it was a bad hair day on top of everything. I had planned to try Winchester today, thinking it would be simpler, but they were doing work on the tracks in that direction this morning. Instead, Margaret drove me to the Bromley station and I was able to get a train directly to Canterbury, which was so much easier than I imagined it would be. (She made a point of coming in with me to make sure I would be able to make it through the gate, although I knew it wouldn’t be a problem.)
The town center is small, the streets narrow. The sky was gray and spitting wet. I found my way from the train station to the Cathedral without a map. It’s hidden behind a stone wall right in the center of town. I mean, as if you could hide a cathedral, but it seemed a little strange to me that it was walled in.
I made it there a little after 11, just after the morning service had started. To me it felt oppressive and lifeless—maybe because it was so gray and cold. Maybe because the sermon was rubbish, a woman going on about some cartoon character I’d never heard of, but even I could tell her analogies were weak and overall she seemed to lack strength and conviction. I shouldn’t judge so quickly, but that was my impression. They were charging everyone 6 pounds to get in unless you were going to the service, and then you were supposed to pay more for a pass if you wanted to take pictures. I didn’t pay anything, and I didn’t give them a donation because I thought what they were doing was so obnoxious and so against the spirit of Christianity. I realized regretfully as I sat there in the folding chairs at the back that this is officially the seat of the Anglican church, my church. Blech.
By 1:00 I was choking on a dry ham omelet in a great little café above the tourist center, and at 1:40 I caught the train to Chilham from the West train station on the other side of town. The lady at the tourist center had never heard of Godmersham. Very bad beginning, I thought. Then when she did look up the bus schedule, she said the buses didn’t run on Sunday, so I should take the train to Chilham and get a cab from there, which would be much cheaper. (Lesson: ALWAYS ask the tourist office for the number of a local cab company.)
I sat there drinking my watered-down instant decaf, literally choking on my dry ham omelet because I was trying to eat it so fast, feeling like an ugly, conspicuous, backpack-toting tourist. I felt like I couldn’t do anything right, and had far too many un-chic accoutrements. I wondered if I should even try to find Godmersham, what kind of challenges I would find, if it would even be worth the effort. So I made a conscious decision to choose adventure. Hang it all, I thought. So much goodness has met me so far on the trip, who knows what I’ll find today? And that is when the fun began.
to be continued...
Forgive the long absence. I guess they've been fairly regular of late. I have been just sort of keeping my head above water, writing taking precedence over everything else--blogging, unfortunately, included. The good news is, that all these little bits of writing are forming themselves into something like a book. (I hesitate to say even that for fear of jinxing it.)
So, where have I been? Well, right now, I am sitting in Greenberry's, my favorite coffee shop, drinking tea and eating chocolate McVities. I come here to get out of the house and be around people. What cracks me up is that all these self-employed creative types come here for the same reason. And then we all sit here with our Macs (approximately 87% of the people who come to Greenberry's use Macs) and talk to no one. The other day one of the other regulars nodded in my direction and I felt amazed to have sort of connected with someone.
This week I have been fighting headaches on every front. My health insurance company sent me the bill for the first quarter of my new plan. It is going to be roughly equivalent to five or six additional mortgage payments every year, and I just refuse to think about it. It would be one thing if I felt like I was getting something for my money, but I'm feeling a bit taken advantage of. Shopping for health insurance ranks somewhere between going to the dentist and being savagely attacked. Using your health insurance is not that much more fun.
The biggest headache this week has been trying to get my insurance company to pay for claims they have had for more than 6 months. I don't think you'll want to read about this, but I'm going to tell you anyway because I have to tell someone, and my mom has already heard the sob story. The two labs total nearly $400. I sent the first one in sometime in March or April. They lost it. I sent it in again, along with the second receipt. They failed to process both of them this time. When I called to follow up, after waiting weeks to hear from them, they said they had to mail them to California since the lab was in California, and I had to give Blue Cross California 30 days to process it. That was the first of September. Still nothing. (Sheesh. I want to stick hot pokers in my eyes just typing this out.) I finally found someone this week who said she would help me, but when I called her back to follow up she said, "Oh, I'm sorry, your plan has changed so I don't have authority and someone else has to approve this." ARGH! Argh, argh, argh. Shoot me now. Seriously. Does it all have to be this painful? What we need is for some brilliant entrepreneur out there to start the Southwest Airlines version of health insurance. Cheap, no thrills, excellent service, clear expectations.
Today I am sending in roughly $1100 more in claims. I think I'll be lucky if I see any of that money again. It all makes me think how easy it would be, even today, even in America, to just slip through the cracks and end up in a bad situation. It just takes one illness, which is completely out of your control, and then maybe you can't work, and if you didn't have a support system, it would be really hard to figure out how to get help. It would be too easy to just give up. I'm lucky. No one is going to let me starve, and I still have a little income (though I don't recommend writing for those who want to be financially secure).
Oh, and I got in an accident on Saturday. I was driving home from having brunch with my friends Bev and Jordan. I was stopped at a light, looking for my phone or something. In my peripheral vision, I saw the minivan in front of me start to move and I stepped on the gas. Only, they weren't really going and the light was still red, so I smacked into their bumper. Very little damage, none to my car at all. The best kind of accident, right? So I thought. Then the lady I hit, who had been out walking around and talking to me, decided that she wanted to call an ambulance. They STRAPPED HER TO A BOARD. Sheesh! What was she thinking? So because she did that, her two preteen girls decided they had to have an ambulance, too. (BTW, I love that she just left them in the car while the medics were attending her. Excellent maternal instincts!) Now they are claiming medical expenses and saying they need continued treatment. My insurance company says they may have to settle.
On a brighter note, I got to go to the Cox Farms Fall Festival with my parents and my niece, Grace. I think that was the highlight of my fall! It's open one more weekend--big slides and free pumpkins included. If you're here in northern Virginia, take your little ones.
