Well, it’s been quite the year – so much enthusiasm, vitality, and great energy. I want to thank each one of you for what you have brought to TRUU this year, and for supporting me in my first year of ministry. I will carry you in my heart always. One thing I wanted to say in my sermon – it is not “farewell,” it is “fare forward” – you to a new minister and continued flourishing as a congregation, me to Port Townsend and Quimper UU – but that doesn’t mean that we have not touched and changed each other. The beautiful prayer flags made by the TRUU kids, and the gorgeous photo of Mount Sopris signed by so many of you, will be treasured and will always remind me of you.

As I said in the sermon, you opened your hearts to me when I arrived, even as you still missed Stephan, and Rev. Shawna Foster will be arriving sometime later this summer, with her own gifts. I hope for her that she and her family are as warmly and kindly welcomed as you welcomed me.  It’s exciting that you have a ministerial family coming, and someone who can stay for a while. Now I join the ranks of the ministers who have loved you. It’s important that especially in the first year, I stay away, so you can find your own relationships with your new minister, but know that I will be thinking of you and sending blessings. I look forward to getting glimpses of how you grow and change as a congregation!

My email address and TRUU minister’s number will probably be used by Rev. Foster when she arrives, and I won’t be checking either regularly after today (if you need to reach me before I leave the valley in mid-July, you can use fcaplow@uuma.org). I will be gone in the mountains until the 4th, and then back for about 8 days, packing up, so we may still run into each other around town.

Words can’t express my gratitude and appreciation. I love you all, and feel incredibly blessed to have had this year together. Fare forward, dear friends!

Peace and love,

Florence