Back to Berkeley

There were no tears when Stephen dropped me off at Newark Airport this morning. We had made the two hour trip with no delays and I was about two hours early for my almost noon flight back to Berkeley, following my semester break from classes. Checking my bag at the street, guitar in hand and laptop weighing my purse down considerably, I made my way to the gate. Once past security, I found that I had lost my boarding pass. Miraculously, another was simply issued at the gate.

Arriving in San Francisco some five-and-a-half hours later and 35 minutes early, I made all of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and bus connections without delay and was unpacking my suitcase some two hours after touchdown.

Prepared for driving rain and cold temperatures, I was shocked when the weather was a sunny balmy 60 degrees. The roses still bloom on the green roof outside my room.

Donning a sweatshirt as the sun was setting I walked to the grocery store. The food service is not serving this last week of Intersession. I will be across the University of California at Berkeley campus tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. at the American Baptist Seminary of the West for a four-hour, five-day intensive called “Introduction to Pastoral Care.”

The conversations in the third floor kitchen, as I unpacked my groceries and heated some pesto pasta that I had frozen before I left, included the plurality of Christianity and the universal aspects of pilgrimage.

I settle into the routine not dissimilar to being home, happily greeting and being greeted by friends.

I am pleased that I found that I could go home, and that I have returned to continue on my spiritual journey.