Eight years ago at this moment, I had just arrived in Williamsburg. It was a Saturday night, the eve of Palm Sunday, 2001.

That morning, I had watched the dress rehearsal of "Godspell" in the sanctuary of St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, Wilmington, DE, my home congregation, where I had served for nearly 10 years. An outstanding group of high school youth were to perform the show the next morning. My daughter, Emily, did the choreography. Future Spinto Band lead guitarist and singer Nick Krill was in the band. (No one knew he could play the guitar at that point!) As I watched the rehearsal, my mini-van was parked outside on Broom Street, packed with clothes and books I would be taking south.

I missed the performance because the next day, April 1, was a Sunday and my first day on the job at St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Williamsburg, VA. How strange it was to drive away from that building in Wilmington, familiar since my childhood, alone. (Emily would not graduate from high school for another 10 weeks, so she and Patty stayed in Wilmington.)

I arrived in Williamsburg at dinner time and ate at Pierce's bar-be-que, because I knew where it was. (Strange: I haven't been back there since!)

Afterwards, it was dark. (This was in the old days, before Daylight Saving Time started so early.) I stopped by the church building to unload what would go into my office. Ellen Sandridge, of the Call Committee, had been by that afternoon to leave the outside door open. She had told me where to find a key for the office: behind the margarine door in the refrigerator, believe it or not! That's where it was hidden back then. At that time, there was the only kitchen in the building -- the one that still exists, off the Undercroft, now the Pre-School art room. I groped around for a light switch, found it, found the key in the butter dish, and carried boxes and vestments into the office I was to occupy for a couple of years, until it was demolished to make way for the new building addition.

Then it was off to Patty's parents' house, where I lived in a spare bedroom until Patty and Emily joined me in June. There I was alone, too, for a couple of hours, eight years ago tonight. The Cogles had long before agreed to go to a party! (They had left a key for me too.)

What strange feelings eight years ago tonight: excitement, uncertainty, loneliness, wondering if all of this was a good idea...

It's all worked out pretty well, huh?