2023, January through March
The first quarter of 2023 was busy and full of so many meaningful experiences. I remember meeting a friend for dinner a few days after the New Year and realizing just how much was filling my schedule over what was then the next couple of months. I’m taking a moment here at the beginning of April to look back on it and share a few highlights.
It’ll surprise no one that I spent at least some of my free time in the audience at concert halls, and my first concert of the year was the most spectacular. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra had hired The Washington Chorus to be the chorus for its presentation of Verdi’s Requiem in January. Naomi and I made an overnight trip to Baltimore out of it, staying at the charming, comfortable Hotel Revival (I highly recommend if you need a hotel in that area). It was my first time hearing the Baltimore Symphony, and my first time hearing the Chorus in a major work such as the Requiem, and I immensely enjoyed the performance. (Also my first time hearing any choral-orchestral major work performance since before the pandemic.) As an added bonus, I was able to join our artistic director, Eugene Rogers, at the post-concert dinner and mingle with the conductor (James Conlon), soloists, and executive leadership from the Baltimore Symphony.
Then in mid-February, I had the opportunity to attend a bishop consecration service – and for my new bishop, most importantly! In October, the Anglican Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic selected Christopher Warner as its next bishop, succeeding the retiring John Guernsey, and since it’s a rare occurrence, I made a point to attend the service since it was held in nearby Falls Church. It was an exceptionally special time of worship and celebration, and I’m so glad I was there.
The very next day, Naomi and I headed to Nashville to spend a few days with family. Naomi’s aunt and uncle and grandmother all live in that area; I’d not yet met Uncle Pete and Aunt Kay and very much enjoyed the time spent with them.
In the background of all that was the culmination of the journey Naomi and I began last fall to become homeowners. We toured the place on January 3, made an offer on January 4, and woke up on January 5 to a note from our buyer’s agent that we had a ratified contract! We closed on February 14 and “moving day” was March 18 with help from some friends. Especially with the volatility that has been the housing market and the economy at large of late, we were quite pleased to purchase when we did.
And much ahead in the spring! More concerts, more travel, more settling in to our new home, and much more besides!
How were these past few months for you? What do you have in the next few months that you are eagerly anticipating?
