Last Sunday, Last Sermon, Last Supper

Sunday, June 26th we both left for church at the same time: Kirk by car, I by bike; but I took a long route via Glenview, Northbrook, Riverwoods, Highland Park, Glencoe, Winnetka, and finally Wilmette turning the 15 mile route into 30. It's a ritual I've had for 20+ years--saying goodbye to my biking routes, or in the old days, my running routes, when it's time to leave-take a place.

I paused at Sanders Court (Sanders/Dundee) to drink my morning Starbucks TeaMisto. By outward appearances Sanders Court is just another strip mall, but for 12 years (1978-1990) it was a central part of our family's life: McDonalds, Cat's Meow, Dominicks. This was the intersection where each of the kids learned to cross busy streets with the lights, a coming of age event at age 10, and weekly grocery shopping with Kirk.



I actually found myself overflowing with feeling remembering those long-ago events on this corner that just sits there and doesn't know or care how much life happened for our little family right there.

Jen joined us at church on this Last Sunday for Kirk's Last Sermon and our last time to hear our Choir. Thank you Jen, thank you Julia, Andy, and choir. By the time Andy concluded the Handel's Largo there was not a dry eye, no not one.

Leaving Wilmette came hard. It's not easy to just leave after 40 years of a rich and full life in this vibrant Chicago. There was a run to Millen's Hardware, the post office, our Last Supper (even though it was mid-day) at Siam Splendor (our all-time Thai fave, a tart yogurt cone for Kirk at Evanston's Yogurt 38, Rose's Bakery for one last Red Velvet Vegan cupcake for Jen and me, and a gas station fill-up, the first of nearly daily fill-ups these next 97 days. Finally our car pointed east to Auburn, IN where we'd spend our first night on the road with Mike and Cindy, Katie's in-laws with whom we've shared Thanksgivings for the past 10 years.