home for the holidays

For Christmas Eve service we went to the Episcopal church in our neighborhood. I was lured by the promise of traditional carols, traditional liturgy, traditional vestments. It was a beautiful, high holy service, perfumed by incense. Deep in my bones, I love ritual.

One of the joys (and burdens) of coming back to the hometown is that it's impossible to go anywhere without running into someone I know. In this instance I saw people from nearly every phase of my time at [the company where I work] but the biggest surprise was my high school principal. Yes, it's been 25 years since I last saw him.

He was ushering at this service, and was one of the final people to receive Communion. It was special to see him, and everyone, in this special time and place.

My dad and I talked to the ex-principal briefly after the service and I said, "You probably can't go anywhere in this town without seeing a former student!"

"Yes, he said,"a lot of time people will come up to me and say, 'You don't remember me, do you?' and all I can say is, 'Well, it depends … how much time did you spend in my office?"