Questions from Krissy:

1.) You??ve moved around quite a bit in the last five or so years. Of the places you??ve lived, which has been your favorite? Why?
Probably Santa Cruz because it’s where I really came into myself as the person I am. It was where I fully lived out my faith for the first time, where I struggled with a lot of major issues, and where I fell really in love with the land. I still miss the oceans, the redwoods, the climate, the atmosphere, Bookshop Santa Cruz, the coffeeshops, the people, the fog, my churches, and the mountains. I want to visit the next time I’m home-home (as in San Jose instead of just California) but I have no idea when that will be.

Ohio was kind of a transitory time for me and it was really culture shock because the people are so different from me. It’s very strange being in a state where people like Bush and where Republicans run everything. (I actually voted Republican pretty universally while there — the Democrats tend to be a little too left-wing and mob-controlled.) I like Minnesota so far, but I’ve only really lived here for two months — not enough time to judge.

2.) What do you like best about being a khouria? What do you like the least?
(For those of you who are really puzzled by this, a khouria is a pastor’s wife. It’s the Syrian Orthodox term for it which I adopted because pastorina is too flowery and I’m not a vicarette any more. I also really like that the Orthodox have a title for the pastor’s wife because she has a ministry of her own.)

The best thing is that I get afforded a whole lot more respect than I’d probably get if I was just a 24 year old laywoman. The people here aren’t nasty or anything but it’s kind of nice to ask that something be done and have it done with almost no questions asked. I have the freedom to involve myself in whatever I want to involve myself in and I think people actually listen to my input more than they would if I was just a regular layperson. After going through some times in my Christian life when I was voiceless in what happened in the Christian groups and churches that I was part of, I really like having a voice in how things are done.

The hardest thing is that I get held up to a higher standard because I get so much respect. Most people in the congregation are really nice about letting me be me but my actions are scrutinized. This means that I have to watch what I say and do, because any mispoken word is going to cause some big problems. In the minds of a lot of the older people, I’m on par with clergy (which does have its benefits) and it means that people unnecessarily bend over backwards to accomodate me. For example, Jon and I were out visiting some older members (one of whom was recovering from a heart attack) and they asked us to stay for dinner. They gave us frozen pizza (which was really great because Jon’s vice is cheese pizza) and the wife was apologizing to me that the house was a mess, that dinner wasn’t fancier, and for a whole bunch of other things that were completely out of her control. I was thinking “OK… your husband is recovering from a week in the hospital and we showed up completely unexpectedly — we’re very OK with frozen pizza if that’s what you had on hand!” Jon and I are really not fancy people and it’s kind of embarassing to have people falling at our feet because we happen to be the pastor and pastor’s wife. I mean, we were just there to give Communion to her husband — dinner was kind of a surprise to us too. (We got there at 4 and didn’t get home until 9 because they insisted on socializing for a spell.)

Another hard thing about this is that people think that I have a lot more power than I have and that I know everything that is going on. I may be married to Jon but it doesn’t mean that I know everything that’s happening at each church in a given week. This also means that if someone isn’t at church to do something (teach Sunday school, hand out bulletins, accompany the WELCA hymn-sing,…) it passes to me and I can’t always fill those roles. I don’t have a problem handing out bulletins but I have worship duties at both churches right now, which means that I can’t teach Sunday school. As for accompanying the hymn-sing, let’s just say that my piano-playing abilities are remaining under a bushel basket for the time being and leave it at that!

3.) If you had a perfect day in which to do absolutely anything you wanted, how would you spend it?
This is hard because I’m fond of my everyday life — things vary so much that I tend not to get sick of my life.

It would probably be spent having laptime with my kitties in bed in the morning (since all 4 have excellent motors and are very good at snuggling), spending some time outdoors (maybe at Lac qui Parle when spring comes), getting a lot of work done on my crocheting, and eating dinner at one of the places in town that makes really good diner food.

Another perfect one would be spending some time with the people of the churches doing something like VBS or a workday. Despite being very introverted, I love working with people and the people at Jon’s churches are really super cool. It would give me fellowship time and also time outside. (It’s February in Minnesota. I’m starting to get cabin fever.)

4.) What will you name your next set of kitties?
I’m not going to know that until I meet them. Each kitty is very different and their name has to match their personality. Edda is a very mellow and bookish kind of cat, so it fits that she’s named after a genre of literature. Freya is a little berzerker but at the same time very affectionate, so she fits her namesake well. (Freyja is the Viking goddess of love.) Cullen just looks like he should be a Cullen and Finian’s episcopal namesake fits the regalness of his looks.

As far as the cat we’ll adopt next, it will probably be another tabby since we’re very fond of them. (We joke that Edda is a tabby who played in ink or with a Sharpie pen. Freya is a white cat with tabby splotches and the boys are red tabbies. Jon calls Freya his “tabbage patch” cat.) I think Tabitha or Abbie would be good for a girl. A male tabby might be Daniel (as in Daniel Striped Tiger from “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood”) or Tybalt. We’ll have to see.

5.) What is your favorite Loreena McKennitt song? How did you get introduced to her music?
I like almost all of her stuff so I don’t have any absolute favorites. I’d have to say that my current favorites are:

I got into her music 11.5 years ago when my mom heard her on NPR and bought her current tape (The Visit). I got really addicted to it because it’s Celticy (at least that CD was) and her music is written in my range. I saw her in concert in December 1994 and it’s still one of the top concerts I’ve been to. (I am really irritated that I didn’t get to see her in San Francisco in 1998 — I was either in Ireland or being treated for walking pneumonia at the time.) (Someone on my blogroll actually knows her through a friend and I am very jealous of them.) I love her music because it’s basically a creative outlet for her scholarly interests — she even includes wonderful notes on the songs in her liners.

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