Heading East {Washington DC and New Hampshire}

Grandma Billie took this lovely photo of us at SeaTac Airport at around 4AM.

To sleep or not to sleep? That is the question one asks oneself when a departure from home is scheduled for 1:45AM.  I opted to sleep, being a person who can almost always fall into a deep sleep just as my head hits the pillow, if not sooner.  However, on this night before departure, the whole falling asleep thing didn't quite happen as normal.  So, rather than a few hours of sleep to prepare for the big day, I logged maybe half an hour or so of real sleep, but who's counting?

Paying for two nights parking at SeaTac in the 3's, we were inside the airport and checking in by 4 for our 6AM flights.  Grandma Billie and Grandpa Cliff headed to Washington DC with Joseph and Peter (a Christmas gift); Zachary and I were en route to New Hampshire to visit Thomas More College of Liberal Arts.  With flights departing within minutes of each other, we shared the early morning ride and the joys of passing through airport security together.  After the pat-downs, re-packing of our x-rayed belongings and putting our shoes back on, we said our goodbyes and parted ways.

Enjoying a third breakfast or a first lunch (depending upon the time zone) Zachary strolls along at Chicago's O'Hare between flights.

Met at Manchester, New Hampshire, by the Thomas More College shuttle, Zachary and I embark upon the final leg or our day-long journey to campus.

Due to an annual vocation awareness event at a local Catholic grade school near TMC, the daily Mass schedule had been changed so the priest wouldn't have to bi-locate.  After the marathon day of travel from coast to coast, we landed on campus right as the 5PM Mass began.  If you know me, you know this was truly the highlight of my day!  God is so good!  

Mass in the small, beautiful chapel was followed immediately by a home cooked meal in the cafeteria below.  Italian beef, fancy rice, freshly baked rolls with fresh salad, topped off with self-serve chocolate ice cream for dessert seemed far better fare than the standard institutional-style campus meals.  A professor joined our table just as the conversation had turned to shooting and eating snakes, which somehow segwayed into a fascinating discussion about beauty in liturgy.  Turns out this gifted professor will be speaking at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, in a few days on this very topic, and the insights he shared with us shall be treasured as a highlight of my TMC campus visit.

Ready for his immersion experience into student life at Thomas More College, Zachary surveys the campus.