Been thinking of you all and the community a lot lately. It's been a while!
I hope to be down in the next few months. I very much miss New Orleans and
the people in it. Not a day goes by that I don't think of someone or
something from those two years of my life that has undoubtedly touched me
in a way I could have never foreseen. But life here on the East coast is
going well! As I believe you've heard, Catherine and I are now roommates in
a small but beautiful apartment in the Cambridge area along with a third
roommate who also attended St. Anselm. We're having a wonderful time and
I've really taken to Cambridge. We're in a beautiful spot not too far from
Harvard with lots of restaurants, bars, parks, etc. The community here I've
found to be quite lovely as well. Cambridge is great spot with people that
care deeply about education, the future of children, healthy living, the
environment, etc. A truly wonderful forum for someone who has also taken to
caring, and advocating, for topics of the like. We live across the street
from a community garden that is flourishing and there is hardly a moment
where there is not at least a handful of people tending away to their
particular plots. Summer here has been mild so far and particularly rainy.
I heard that New Orleans is in for a possibly "active" hurricane season. My
prayers are for a "mildly active" one of course.
As for me, I'm currently working at a retail store called Anthropologie.
It's a nice intermittent job as I get settled into living in Boston. I
intend on resuming a job search in the coming months. But for now, I'm
enjoying my work with this company. The people that work there are lovely
and it is different than your average retail company because a great deal
of their focus is on home products and visual aesthetics-- so they have
a whole team that focuses on merchandising, painting, constructing,
recreating fun displays for the store-- I've even put my
construction skills to good use. I'm having fun there and have really taken
to the team of people that work there. Life is good!! I've started to
become active with the Notre Dame Mission Volunteer AmeriCorps alumni group
in Boston as well which is neat because its a great way to connect with
fellow AmeriCorps alum (and network). They set up weekend service strips
and things of that nature.
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| Molly with Matt Beben and Travis Wain this Advent--baking cookies at midnight? |
I can't believe almost another year has gone by since I was last living
with the community. Nick Albares, who I'm sure you have all met, sent a
really beautiful e-mail last week to the New Orleans community about his
time spent there. Not sure if you've heard but he and his wife Marguerite
are moving to DC because he is starting graduate school at Georgetown. In
the e-mail he included a quote that really struck me and immediately I knew
I had to make sure to share it with you. It is from the book, "Compassion"
by Henri Nouwen et al.
"It is important to keep ourselves from thinking about community only in
terms of living together in one house, or sharing meals and prayers, or
doing projects together. These might well be true expressions of
community, but community is a much deeper reality. Physical nearness or
distance is secondary. The primary quality of a community is a deep sense
of being gathered by God (Love, Spirit, Goodness, Peace, Justice)."
I thought this depicted wonderfully how the bond of communities past and
present that have come together under your roof transcends beyond the
actual time spent there and connects us in a way that goes far beyond the
actual living and praying and working together. In a way, it's like there
is a whole other level of just what is meant when we describe our choice to
join intentional community living.
Hope all is well!! And please tell the guys I say hi!!
All my best,
Molly
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