Pulling Carpet

We’re getting our house ready to sell. Our realtor told us to pull the carpet in a bedroom because it covers a beautiful hardwood floor. So I did that yesterday. Obviously I have never pulled carpet before, because I thought it would take a couple of hours. Wrong! It took six.

Once I got over the shock of seeing that it wouldn’t be quick, I started to realize how monastic the work was. The padding was stapled to the floor, and each staple had to be individually coaxed up with a screwdriver, then pulled out with pliers. Often the staple broke, which meant that the remaining piece had to be pulled as well. Then on to the next staple. The carpet tacking was taken up in a similar way, nail by nail.

It reminded me of one of the times I was at New Melleray Abbey, when I was assigned to clean the shower stalls of the professed monks, which had not been cleaned in forty years. I was given a piece of steel wool to scrub the tiles, one by one. At the end of about two hours I had cleaned one or two walls and was told to go off to prayers. As I left, the monk picked up the steel wool and started going over the area I had just finished. Apparently it wasn’t good enough.

The realtor came by again today and didn’t tell me to re-pull the carpet. At the threshold I still have to install a carpet gripper (sujetador de alfombra – we didn’t learn that in Spanish class). But that was it. So I guess I did a good enough job. Good enough, I hope, that the house will sell.

Last Sunday

Today was my last Sunday at St. Peter’s. It is bittersweet for R and me to leave the place that discerned our calls to the priesthood, supported us through the process, and then gathered in joy as we were ordained side by side two years ago this week.

One of the fun parts for me came today at the point where I invited forward those who will have birthdays in the coming week so that we can all pray over them. One was a retired Iowa Supreme Court Justice, who epitomizes the positive, accepting community of St. Peter’s with its strong lay leadership. The other was born when I was doing CPE after my first year of seminary; I met her when she was just a few hours old. It seemed fitting that we would pray over these two faithful servants on my last day.

Now it is on to the next stages in our lives. R is already well ensconced in her church; I will begin moving books and belongings to mine this week. We still don’t have a new home, but that will come. In the meantime we give thanks for what has been, rejoice in the present, and wait with eager longing for what God will bring to us in the future.