Confident.

While I was in Austin, the interim pastor and I drove to Rochester to check out the Mayo hospitals and stop in at the synod office.  I was stoked to stop in at the synod office because, though I had been there a couple times before, there was a new face to greet.

My Stillwater “mom,” Karen [at whose house I stayed last night], is now on staff at the southeastern MN synod!  We first worked together at Trinity Lutheran in Stillwater, then she joined me at seminary, and now we’re both in the same synod.  It’s quite awesome that she follows me around.  *wink*

I was excited to see and hug Karen and chat a bit about her work at the synod.  When I arrived, she was in the back conference room, meeting with a member of the synod staff whom I had not yet met.  We talked for a bit about my call, about the drive to Alaska, and about the ordination that had taken place on the same day as Karen’s big annual parade party.  [When Karen’s husband, Mark, heard that my ordination was going to be on the same day as their parade party he said, “It’s too bad that Lindsay will have to miss her ordination to come to the parade party!”]  It was a quick visit but it absolutely made my day.

Yesterday, when I arrived at Mark and Karen’s in Stillwater, Karen shared what her colleague [the woman on staff whom I had never met before] said after I left.  The synod staff member said something to the tune of “what a confident young woman!”  Me?  Confident?  That would often be one of the last adjectives I would use to describe myself, let alone someone else who just met me.  I’m well aware that confidence in myself and what I do has grown significantly in the last years but I never imagined that people would see that in how I present myself or interact.  

This post may border on bragging [apologies] but it felt awesome to be described in that manner.  Kinda makes me feel even more confident in who I am and the ways I’ve grown in the last years.  Confident.