Last Saturday

Halfway through my morning run along a route I've traveled countless times through Worcester's hills and flats, it occurred to me that this is my final Saturday in this fair city. My upcoming travel schedule– some family vacation at the Jersey Shore, a trip to Brazil for gatherings of Jesuit-educated students and Catholic youth from around the world, and time for a private 8-day retreat– will eventually culminate in a move to Boston, where I'll begin three years of theology studies at Boston College. After living for four years in the "heart of the Commonwealth," I'll soon be receiving mail, voting, and residing for the first time in New England's largest city.

A Chagall window finds a new home.

Fittingly, this afternoon brought the opportunity to roam around Worcester with a good friend who's just completed one year in town, and recently moved to a new place. A stained-glass window that had previously hung in my office became an ideal housewarming gift, adding character to a quaint apartment in a stately home that has weathered the decades rather well. Roaming around two of Worcester's parks reminded me of the lovely pockets of town that I often overlook while savoring the picturesque Holy Cross campus, or venturing further afield to other towns and landscapes in Massachusetts.

Elm Park
Worcester MA

I'm still processing all of the farewells that I've shared over the past few weeks with faculty, administrators, and students. I'm still absorbing the significance of intentionally leaving the best job I've ever had, and journeying forward with a large and varied array of friends and colleagues who genuinely desire to stay in touch. In focusing so keenly on accomplishing the tasks before me and caring for those whom my work served, I know I've often overlooked the broader impacts that I've made, and some of the esteem in which I'm held. I assiduously avoid pride, yet have also learned that my humility can cause some blind spots in its more obsessive periods.

Green Hill Park
Worcester MA

With many summer Saturdays to come before I take up residence in Boston, I hope to let the lessons and graces of the past two years percolate through my being, just like the late spring rains that have brought so many verdant hues to Worcester's parks and gardens in recent weeks. I'm undoubtedly entering a period of transition, and I'm grateful for the several weeks I'll have to experience the shift from Worcester to Boston, from work to study, from years of fulfillment to years of opportunity.