When I tell you this you’re going to roll your eyes and think, my god, I had no idea she was such a snob!
But maybe that’s just the me who thinks we’re all judging each other all the time. Couldn’t possibly be true, right?
My two sons are right now on Nantucket with their dad and his family and my daughter is on Martha’s Vineyard with her dad and his family.
I mean, let’s face it, it’s kind of hilarious.
I’m at Lake George with my parents.
Truly, this has never happened before, this funny confluence of vacation modes. The boys have lived in the west for so long that for them to make it to the east for a summer vacation — just not a thing.
Coco goes to Martha’s Vineyard every summer and has since she was in utero, and I imagine that will never change. Her DNA and that island are woven into one.
There was one summer when the boys were young when they flew from MV to meet their dad on Nantucket. Later in the summer they went out to Quogue in the Hamptons to visit family and my brother, funniest guy I know, said, “are they aware that they’re hitting the triumvirate of exclusive east coast summer vacation destinations?”
They were not. They were young and it didn’t register with them.
Like the time we vacationed on Mustique and they were invited to play touch football with Tommy Hilfiger and his crew at his estate. They had no idea who he was, but they sure loved football.
I know all of this makes it sound like I’m some kind of entitled heiress. I’m not. I married a couple of guys who are connected to and like to vacation in really nice places. It was a fun ride.
I, do, however, want to make something very clear about being a pastor and the whole vow of poverty thing.
Life in this world doesn’t work very well when one does not have money. I’m aware that there are many, many walking this earth who do not and never will have access to plentiful resources; but for those of us who have options, the choice to not work enough or not put one’s talents to use in such a way as to make a good living is not … dare I say, a great choice. And this includes those in the world of ministry.
It took me a long time to understand that the life of the spirit and having money are not mutually exclusive. That one could, indeed, be a spiritually enlightened person and also take nice vacations. For far too long I thought I had to live in semi-poverty in order to be a good human — that wealthy people were spiritually bankrupt.
I place blame, as I do for many of my life’s misconceptions, on the Catholic church.
I have seen with my own eyes the tremendous wealth accumulated and spent by many in that world, in positions of religious authority. The Jesuits, the guys who claim to be living a minimalist life, have a camp on an island right across the bay from where I’m staying right now. I have been to a Benedictine monastery on about six thousand acres of the most prime real estate in America, right outside Aspen. Those guys might talk about living a simple life, but it’s a load of hooey. They live and vacation in some of the most gorgeous places on earth. I’m not exactly sure who they’re serving, who they’re helping by living in their quiet, private little worlds, doing their gardening and making cookies (how the monks in Aspen generated income), largely because it’s hard to tell when you examine their lifestyles more carefully. It looks an awful lot to me like a bunch of self-serving guys who prefer not to mingle with the hoi polloi, thus own lots and lots and lots of real estate so they can move from one exclusive location to another, when they need … a vacation?
I came to this place of ministry to explore the wreck that we are living in today and I’m not going to pussyfoot around the truth, one of which is that poverty ain’t no fun and there’s no one who knows that better than a whole lot of religious folks who claim to have taken a vow. And please, please don’t get me started on their hypocritical bs about chastity. I want to enjoy my vacation.
Many, many of my churchy people have permanently furrowed brows these days because churches are dying, closing, withering.
The same thing is happening in the worlds of education, politics … you know, just most of our major institutions, that’s all. Broken, run by people afraid of change. I wave good-bye with glee to all of them. I love it when things fall apart. It means that the way it is is not working very well and that it’s time for new things to grow.
I don’t have a neat and tidy way to wrap this up this morning and I really want to get back down to the lake with a piece of peach pie and another cup of coffee. I feel fortunate to have this moment in time here with my folks, with the light and air of a lakeside space. I love swimming, love reading beside water, love having the time and space for conversation and for thinking. You’ll probably be hearing a lot from me this week.
xomo
I left a man made church. I prefer being outside in Creation and believing that nature heals. What is the matter? I am feeling the environmental disaster of Climate Change. Yes, NOW! Go to the lakes and islands and enjoy the season if possible, far from the heat and the maddening crowds. Happy summer.
Nantucket is SO overrated. We lived there for years. In fact, we lived across the street from Tommy Hilfiger for awhile. It is SO overrated, that people would buy dog shit if it spelled out , “Nantucket”. And that is the god’s honest truth.
Our son is a Nantucket Native; born at our home in our living room. One year for Hanukkah, I thought I got him the coolest gift ever. It was a t shirt that says, “I am the man from Nantucket”. He was mortified. “Mom, do you know the limerick?”. Apparently I did not. The t shirt has never left his closet😆