Every new beginning . . .

FCB Caddell, Head of a Young Man (1934)

My employment at the University of South Florida ended last week. I had a good run. They hired me with tenure, promoted me to full professor, paid me reasonably well, let me use up tons of sick leave when I was desperately ill, allowed me to go half-time for a couple of years just because I felt like it, and basically left me alone to do what I wanted to do.

I'm not leaving angry. Far from it.

But I am leaving. Starting August 1 I will be the Isabelle A. and Henry D. Martin Professor of Medieval Philosophy at Georgetown University. I am thrilled beyond words about this. I get to be in a department and at a university where my focus on the Christian intellectual tradition isn't a generously tolerated eccentricity, but essential to the institution's self-conception. I get to teach, by all accounts, really first-rate undergraduates.

Yesterday I started cleaning out my office. I'm not going to go all Kon-Mari on it, but any book that has sat on the shelves unopened since I moved in is getting tossed.

On Thursday I head up to DC for a quick trip to find a furnished apartment. I'll be commuting from Tampa for the first year, on sabbatical for the second year, so I'm spared (for now) the hassle of finding a house. As I sit here at the desk in my study, looking out over Lake Carroll, I'm grateful that we get to keep this house at least another two years.

Today I have to finish the index for Anselm: The Complete Treatises and review a copyedited sample of Anselm: A Very Short Introduction. I just got that sample this morning and have been given a 48-hour turnaround, presumably on the assumption that I'll be fine with everything. Bwahaha. They clearly do not know my seething resentment of copyeditors. Just five minutes looking over it turned up two statements that had been given question marks at the end, random interference with perfectly good sentences, and a change that made it clear the copyeditor thinks "made his profession" means "started his career" rather than "took his vows." It's going to be an annoying day.

I want to get both Anselm things done today because tomorrow is my birthday. I turn 55. I intend to celebrate by going to the gym (it's training day!), walking the dog, enjoying homemade guacamole and margaritas, and doing no work of any kind. And maybe I'll look at this auction to see if I should buy myself a small present. With airfares the way they are right now, a small watercolor would be cheaper than a trip to Edinburgh!