Before leaving Raleigh, I called the cable company to see if I could cancel my account and drop off my equipment at the customer service center. The CSR asked me why I was cancelling and I told him it was because I was moving.

CSR: Are you moving out of our service area?
WG: Yes.
CSR: Did you check?
WG: Well, since I have (another cable company) schedule to come and do an install, yes.
CSR: Is there anything we can do to keep you in our service area?
WG: I'm moving because my job transferred me. It has nothing to do with my cable service.

It's important to have a friend that you can call up when something shitty has happened in your life, and when you tell them you need to hear that there is nothing wrong with you from a friendly voice, they do it in such a way that you know they truly, sincerely mean it.

Especially when you called them not knowing if they were really the most appropriate, but also feeling that they were the only one you wanted to hear it from.

Mom and Dad came up last weekend. Randy's parents were throwing a surprise birthday party for him (his actual birthday is today), and to really surprise him they stayed at my house. Which meant they had to wait nearly an entire day to see Monkey.

In order to get ready for their visit, TR girl came over on Thursday to help me set up the guest bed. She brought Monkey with her and put him in his jumper in the door. Every time Orion walked past him, he started crying. He was afraid of him. Orion was not doing anything- he didn't care about the baby being there at all. At one point, we picked them both up so that Monkey could see the cat, and Ri gave him a head butt.

Randy's party was Saturday night. Sunday morning TR girl, Randy, and Monkey came over for breakfast. This time, he was very interested in the cat. Orion put up with him, getting away when he'd had too much. He climbed up on the back of the couch and went to sleep. Later, Liam was up on the couch. He pulled Ri's tail, but all Ri did was turn around and hiss.

We all told him what a good boy he was. And also stopped Monkey from pulling his tail.

Recently, I've been doing a lot of reading about religion. I'm bothered by a lot of things done in the name of religion (none seems immune). It has also always bothered me that people equate religion with morality. I've known immoral people who consider themselves to be good Christians. I know many Christians who wouldn't raise a finger to help another person. I know many atheists who are kind and caring and give back to the world. I believe that morals and religion are independent of one another.

Some background: I was raised as a Presbyterian and confirmed as an Episcopalian. However, I've never had that all-encompassing faith that there is truly a god out there; I've been jealous of people that do. Even as a child, there were things in the Bible that just didn't make sense to me. Take the three wise men for instance. For them to have come from the East (let's, for fun, assume that means Arabia), that star would have had to have been in the sky for an awfully long time. Jesus would have been a few months old by the time they got there.

Many religions, when taken as a group, are ridiculously intolerant, which to me seems contrary to the entire idea of religion. (Here I must stay that I am talking about the religion as a whole, and not individuals. That said, how can one say one believes fully in a church and yet not adhere to all of the doctrines of said church? Do you really just get to pick and choose?)

My readings and journey have lead me away from Christianity. I don't know that I believe in god, and I don't really believe that Jesus was more divine than anyone else anymore than I believe that Joseph Smith was. Religions are creations of man.

That said, I still feel a spiritual hunger. A search for something. I don't know what I'm looking for. I do hope I know it when I see it.

My first step is going to be exploring Unitarian Universalism. It's a liberal fellowship without a creed. Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven principles.

1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
   
2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
   
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
   
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
   
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
   
6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
   
7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
   

Those are seven principles that I can fully support

1. If for some reason you want to buy me a gift, I could really use a pair of these.
2. Monkey is fascinated by the boys' noses. He keeps trying to touch them, which tends to end up as him poking them in the eye.
3. I have 5 boxes left to unpack.
4. Then I have to finish hanging things on the walls.
5. However, I am completely obsessed with looking at houses for sale.

I spent the weekend in Raleigh. I headed down on Thursday because I had an appointment to get my hair cut on Friday afternoon. It's been chopped. Not sure I like it.

The real reason I went down was because we had tickets for Spamalot. Loved it! The boys are not enjoying the fact that I keep singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" to them.

Other things: lunch at Hard Times, Earth Day festivities, and brunch with Stew. Stew! Oh, and I also managed to lock Robin out of her house. Because I am all crazy and do thinks like lock the door in between the garage and the house. My dad gave us helpful hints on how to break in, but it turned out that a friend of hers had a key.

Oh, I also picked up my propane tank, so I can now cook things on the grill.

Saturday was National Rebuilding Day, so I spent the day working on a church. (Yep, we worked on the headquarters for the Richmond event.) It was supposed to be from 8-5, but we finally wrapped up around 6:30. By that time, few volunteers were left, so even though all I wanted to do was go home and shower, I couldn’t. My main project was putting together curtains to hide the old baptismal font. This involved lots of stapling. First, stapling pleats in bolts of fabric, then stapling the fabric to 2x4s. (If I had known about this project ahead of time, I could have come up with a solution that was just as economic, and yet easier.) All was well until it came time to attach the 2x4s to the ceiling. 119 year old church. Couldn’t find the studs. The guys kept saying, “But they should be 16 inches on center.” Me: “119 years old.”

Anyway, I had work to do over the weekend, and also laundry, which I had planned on doing when I got home on Saturday. However, I was beat, so instead I sat on my couch.

Which made Sunday absolutely nuts. I got up, read the paper, worked for 2 hours, cleaned the kitchen, did the laundry and left for Culpeper around 3 to take Peg out for her birthday. Bob and Steph met us at the restaurant. We determined that Peg and I would fly to Maine together this summer (huge family vacation in ME) and Bob and Steph would take the boys. So, I’m going to drive the boys out there and drive Peg back to Richmond. Or, as I put it, a trade. And Peg’s potty-trained. Peg: “Mostly. I am getting older.”

I got back home at 10 and worked for another hour.

I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.