A Certain Lack of Focus

Here I am, two days after learning I'm going to seminary. I'm getting stuff done, but there is a "certain lack of focus" which is making this whole thing still a little unreal. There's a lot up in the air. The biggest question is whether or not I will live at Northwestern and how I will finance that. Will I sell my house to have all that extra cash? Do I put my things in storage or sell them too -- or give them away? I know I have time to make these decisions and I'm getting the application to Seabury tomorrow and signing up for the Campus visit in early April. I'll be seeing Matt, my parish priest, soon and we'll talk all this over. That will certainly bring more questions into focus. I'll also talk with my tax accountant in a few weeks. That will be great information to add to this discussion.

This is a lot like deciding to go to DeKalb in 1975 to get our graduate degrees. Friends thought we were gutsy then! Wow, this is absolutely insane gutsy. Virginia Theological Seminary and University of Chicago have both been suggested to me as alternatives to Seabury, but I don't think so. Virginia would mean moving my Dad along with me, living near Karen (which would be nice), and being away from Pete and family, a definitely difficult choice. Chicago is a great school academically. It would be challenging and intellectually stimulating, but, do I think that at this point in my life I need a warmer atmosphere where attention is paid to formation and where I can be integral to the life of the seminary. Seabury makes a lot more sense -- even tho it is really expensive. $60K to $100K they say. But, I'm not going to worry about this. I'm going to enjoy this process. Every day of it.