One of the Last....

I know may be one of the last to jump onto the MP3 player market. Every where I go, I see people with “ear buds” stuck inside their heads. It took me awhile to remember to wave my arms or shout when I needed to communicate with a young staffer at Holden. Everyone was tuned in and sharing things on their “players”. (Not everyone has an IPod)

Art is up at Holden for Work week and so I am using this extra time to do a few things that I had put off. One of my tasks was to set up a friend’s MP3 player for her. She knew that if I got it ready to go for her and taught her to use it, that she would be spared the pain of reading the manuals.

These past couple of weeks have been a struggle for me at home. The “welcome back” charm of working again has worn off and I am struggling with thoughts of “what do I want to do when I grow up”. Planning and preparing for our time at Holden kept my daydreaming focused for a long time, but here I am at home and beginning to wonder. I have always wanted to work at the zoo, do you think it is too late for me?

Anyway, I decided to go to the Holden Audio Archive site and download a few of the worship services and a session or two. The archive is well done and doing keyword search for "matins" or "vespers" will bring up many of the services. (Please create an account and login for these links to work for you.) I do need to thank Carole Young for listening to my need to have these available from home. She and her staff put many wonderful memories up in the audio archives.

It is the music that I miss the most about Holden. There was not one hour that you did not hear someone playing, practicing or performing some song or hymn. Music soared over the snow, through the cold, in the dark and filled with me with song.

I loaded a few things on the player and went out the door with the dog for a walk. I almost started to cry as I heard people I loved in the services that meant so much to me. There was Andrew chanting the Sunday morning matins service and Dylan doing Holden Evening Prayer. I sang right along with everything. (Sorry to anyone who heard me) I found my thoughts turn from sadness to joy and comfort. I loved my walk and came home knowing that I too will soon be the owner of a MP3 player. Any suggestions for one?