let me introduce myself

Until I found the right time to tell my parents about my interest in Orthodoxy, I wanted to be discrete here about my specific identity. There were enough clues, I suppose, for anyone who knew me to put things together. I was mostly just trying to avoid them accidentally stumbling across the blog and finding out that way, rather than hearing it from me first. Now that we've had an initial conversation about it, I'm ready to change my practice. I'm not planning to post my home address or anything--just not explicitly hiding who I am.

If you've been reading for a little while, you already know that my son's name is Ian (hence, abuian, which if Ian were a common name in Arabic would identify me as Ian's father). My wife's name is Julie, so now I can fill in the gap from a comment back in July about her pseudo-name saint. She and St. Julia of Carthage were both born into Christian families, both were valued by their employers as hard workers, both are unwavering from the faith in which they've been raised, and both have a heart for the lost.

As for me, my name is Trevor. I've alluded before to the possible connection with a group of martyrs. I was referring to the martyrs of Trier, which is a shortened name based on the Celtic tribe of Trever. Not that I have much clue of whether there were any remaining Treveri living in Trier by the time of their martyrdom, but if there were, then we could call it the feast of the Treveran martyrs, which is about as close as I would get to a name day with my given name.

As my profile now indicates, I live in Columbia, MD, which is a bit closer to Baltimore than to Washington. I've alluded on various occasions to three parishes that I've visited more than once each. The closest geographically is St. Matthew's OCA parish in Columbia, which right now meets about 10 min. (on foot) from where I live. They're building further south, however, so it won't be long before I'd need to drive to get there. Right now they meet only on Sundays, which has prevented me from getting there much. The other two parishes are both about 25 min. away (by car)--to the south, Holy Apostles ROCOR parish in Beltsville (Fr. George), and to the north, Holy Cross Antiochian parish in Linthicum (Fr. Gregory). My language in referring to them will now be somewhat more natural.

I suppose some of you might be wondering how the talk with my parents went. It was civil, without a lot of emotions openly expressed. They listened a lot and offered some responses. No disowning, no forbidding us from visiting, etc. All in all, I'd have to say it went about as well as I could have hoped. We still have a lot to talk about, but at least things are out there. Thanks to any who prayed.