I Know the Way to San Jose

It’s 4:30 a.m. on Thursday and I will be leaving in a few minutes to California.  I am on my way to the Pacific Union Conference Superintendent’s Retreat in Central California by way of Desert Hot Springs, where I will be taking my mother to help her move in to her new home.  There is a part of me that would have preferred to remain closer to home on this last weekend before the day all Arizona Conference teachers report to their assigned schools across the conference, but alas, this is the one summer meeting I was convinced not to cross off my calendar.

The move for my mom is a necessary task.  It will be my mother’s third move in the last year and a half.  She is 80 going on 18!  She has been staying with Penny and me for the last few weeks, but she is determined to live independently.  She has a large group of church friends in Desert Hot Springs.  She even gets to preach at the local Spanish Church.  I can’t offer the same opportunities here in Arizona, although given enough time she would probably get pretty involved in a local church anywhere she lived.

I will be flying out with Penny from Ontario, California, and landing in San Jose, where we will take a rental car to our final destination down the coast—I don’t know exactly where, but it sounds like a nice place.  Two new superintendents are part of the body of administrators scheduled to meet.  Bill and Harold are two newly appointed superintendents-- - Northern and Southern California Conferences respectively.  I will return to the beginning of the school year for all educational employees.  Exciting times ahead!