A Transcontinental Journey and Other Life Updates
While I’m still not certain how exactly I want to use the blog feature on this website, I thought I would take a moment to give a brief life update for those who are interested.
First, for those who don’t already know, on Monday my family and I will begin our eight day transcontinental journey to Spokane, WA. Once there, I will begin my new job as Dean of Academics and humanities teacher at the brand new Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame. This school is one of many in the Chesterton Academy network and is a classical, Catholic High School. Lauren will also be starting a new job as office administrator at the Chesterton Academy. We are excited, of course, but also not a little terrified about moving so far from any support network, especially in the midst of a pandemic. So any prayers you can send our way will be much appreciated.
It is with some sadness, however, that we leave New Hampshire. Ever since I first met my, then future, wife in college, I’ve been enamored with the New England area. Other than the UK, this is where I’ve always wanted to live. I love the people, the trees, the ready access to the best maple syrup in the world, and the mountains. But what I will miss most of all is my students. I have been privileged over the past three and a half years to teach some excellent high school students. Their questions, their desire for truth, have been both humbling and inspiring. Every class I’ve seen to their senior year has been special to me, but this most recent class is perhaps the most special. This is, in part, because they are the class I have had more than any other. And then when the year ended the way it did, at a distance, over Zoom, well, let’s just say my eyes were seldom dry. It is the teacher’s curse to spend so much time with their students only to watch them leave. This is our joy too, for this is what we’ve been working toward, forming human beings and sending them out to engage the world at large. But it hurts all the same.
I will also miss all the friends we made here in New Hampshire and the community that gathered around us at Christ the King Parish. In fact, it was here in New Hampshire that I was received into the Catholic Church, my wife was confirmed, and my boys were baptized. This has been a truly special place for the my family’s growth in the Faith. What is more, this is the longest we’ve lived in one place as a family.
Six years is far too short a time to live among such admirable New Englanders. But I like all of you, though perhaps not as much as you deserve.
My relative radio silence will likely continue as we drive across the country, but I promise to come back with more once we get settled into our new home in Spokane.
God bless.
