Arizona--Carefree

Carefree, Arizona is a town that has a sense of humor.

One intersection was EASY STREET and COPACETIC DRIVE. There were also streets named HO and HUM and ELBOW BEND.

The retreat center, Spirit of the Desert is more like a resort than a retreat center. There is a huge pool and hot tube and every room has a balcony that looks out over the desert.

It is vaguely Lutheran in identity and does lots of retreats on the Healing of Memories for American troops, a very good thing.

People in Arizona, it seems to me, are more friendly and welcoming that most in New England. But that's not surprising. And most of the people I met aren't FROM Arizona but ended up there for one reason or another.

Here's how dry it is, if you haven't been there.

The humidity in CT right now is 35 %. It's 13% is Phoenix tonight. Might not seem like much of a difference but 35 is low for us and 13 is high for Arizona.

I use a C-Path machine when I sleep. In CT I fill it to the limit with water and it lasts if I sleep 8 or 9 hours. In Carefree, I woke up one night at 3:30 to go to the bathroom, checked the C-Path and it was already empty.

I was early to the airport for my flight home and went to get something to eat in the main concourse before going through security. I was sitting next to a couple about my age and struck up a conversation. They were waiting for another couple to land so they could go on a two week tour of the south-west together. They'd done it before and were doing it again.

I asked them where they were from and they said, "West Virginia".

They asked me what I did and I said, "Episcopal priest".

They were Episcopalians (St. John's, Huntington) from West Virginia and I'm an Episcopal priest who grew up in West Virginia.

We had a great 45 minute conversation until their friends landed and texted them to meet them downstairs.

What a weird meeting thousand of miles from where either of us lived to have so much in common.

Mountaineers and Anglicans--not two things that naturally connect. Yet there we were in Phoenix in an airport, going in different directions and found each other.

Amazing.

Ponder 'coincidence' if you can, without going crazy....