This Time Next Year...

Sorry to keep you. I've had a nice few weeks. Outstanding memories include:
- The Jubilee, which I mostly watched on TV while sprawled on my parents' sofa with Lilibet the cat.
- A lovely afternoon at Killerton House with Emily, Tabitha, Emma and Chris. I ate a lot of scones and encountered a bear.
- A nice evening with friends earlier in the week, marred only by the great Trivial Pursuit catastrophe in which the boys came back from 5-0 pieces of pie to win.
- Bright Hour last night, after which my ribs ache. Kate and I did a sketch about pregnancy which seemed to go down well. Other highlights included a spectacular rendition of 'Bless me Jesus one more time' by a very talented ordinand, and the Principal interviewing himself.

T'was the Leavers service this morning. In a crowded church we wished them well as they trotted off in cassocks and armed with their stoles (scarfy things vicars wear round their necks, not to be confused with stools which are something quite different). Most of them will be ordained Deacons on 30th June or 1st July. A few (like the Exeter ones) will have to wait until 16th September. Many of them are on the road already this afternoon, having emptied their college homes of possessions. Some are around for a few days to get those final boxes packed.

It's going to be really odd not seeing those familiar faces around any more. It's amazing how much you take for granted, even those little cheery conversations with the fellow students that you don't know so well. We've only a week to go until the end of term, but I think the college is going to feel like quite an empty place.

So, this time next year, that will be me. This time last year I was looking forward to starting college while stressing about a house sale, buying my first cassock and knocking a wing mirror off a hire van during an ill-fated trip to the dump while de-clogging Alderson Manors. At that time, coming out of the other end of college felt like a world away. But here I am at the half-way point, and suddenly the end is in sight - albeit a sort of blurry and vague end, with a lot of exciting stuff between me and it.

Talks with the Diocese about just where I'm going to go have kicked off, which is great. Unfortunately, the Curacy-finding stage is not particularly Bloggable, and I'm probably going to have to keep radio silence until I've found somewhere and all the paperwork has been signed off. Needless to say, while it feels like things are happening, I'm nowhere near finding somewhere as yet. I'm feeling pretty chilled out though - I'm extremely fortunate in that Exeter is a big Diocese with lots of Curacies, so it's unlikely I'll end up with nowhere to go.

Of course, the less blurry and vague deadline is Baby A. We now have precisely 2 months to go until 'A Day' which currently sits at 8th August. I'm amazed at how strong the kicking is getting. I never really thought that I'd sit in church watching my stomach moving independently. Very strange, but somehow cool also.

So, the long Summer stands ahead of us with a couple of essays to do, a couple of weeks in Somerset to look forward to, oh and a small child to look forward to also. I'm determined not to wish time away but to enjoy each day. Cliched, but good advice always, I think.