It's been two and a half months since we left Illinois, and four months since Via Christus stopped meeting, and while I'm liking our life here in Austin so far, there are still times when I'm struck by a pang of sadness/nostalgia/melancholy when I think of Via Christus and the community of friends and "family" we left behind there. There are times, often when I'm not thinking about it at all, when suddenly I'll be struck with the thought that I don't get to see those people anymore. Or I'll be thinking of some idea and reflexively think "Oh, I should bring this up at Via Christus on Sunday," and then of course remember that I can't.

I was talking about this with Julie last night and compared it to the "phantom limb" phenomenon that amputees report. It's like having a limb that's been removed, and yet sometimes your brain still thinks it's there and responds as if it is. To then have to consciously remember that it's really not just makes the loss of it all that more acute and difficult to bear.

I guess the take home message of this post for any former Via Christus folk reading it is that I miss you guys and I miss our community. I hope y'all are doing well and are each finding, um, replacement limbs? to take the place of what we lost. I know that some of you are having more luck at that than others. Know that our prayers are with all of you.

Labels: personal, Via Christus