The Hill House library has been a blessing. You can tell a lot about a person by the books on their shelf,
and the Hill House collection is a reflection of the people who have lived here. It’s been a great comfort
to me to sit in the corner next to the books, in a comfy chair I shoved by the bookshelf, flipping through
the titles and wondering about the amazing people who left these great gifts here for me to find. I’ve
pulled at least 6 off the shelf to add to my reading list. The fact that so many of these books are
interesting to me is very comforting; other people in this program have had similar thoughts, dreamed
similar dreams, and found books on similar topics. The books are a physical reminder that I’m in the
right place, despite the difficulties.
It took a month of being in Boston before I moved into Hill House. First I lived with the Sisters of St.
Anne to quarantine upon my arrival to Boston. Then as a result of a series of COVID-related mishaps, I
lived in 40P for a few weeks before moving into Hill House, where I will be for the remainder of the year.
The transition each time was so jarring that by the time I arrived at Hill House I was a little angry and
distrustful of God, just waiting to have the rug pulled out from me again. The uncertainty of each move
and the exhaustion along with it put me in a position where I had to rely on God more than ever
because I didn’t know what was going to happen. I had to just trust that God would take care of me.
My brief stay at 40P turned out to be a good thing for my house. Usually, in non-pandemic times, the
houses are a mix of first and second year fellows. For quarantine purposes, this year it made sense to
separate the Micah and Emmaus fellows into different houses. Living briefly with the Emmaus fellows
allowed me to see what an already formed intentional community could look like. I brought this
knowledge back with me to Hill House, but the other Micah fellows didn’t quite understand what I was
talking about. It wasn’t until our training this past Friday that one of my roommates turned to me and
said, “I get it now.” Seeing the Emmaus fellows discuss how they would handle a conflict in their house,
seeing the care and intention and planning that go into making sure that grievances are heard and
handled, made it click for her. Our house could be different. Not that the way we were functioning was
wrong or bad, but we were living like roommates and not like an intentional community. It’s hard to
build an intentional community when you don’t know what it could look like!
I treat these signs – the books, my roommate’s understanding -- as guideposts that God is leading me in
the right direction.
Andrea (she/they) is a Micah fellow working at Grace Episcopal Church in Medford and is in the process of discerning a call to the priesthood. While living in Hill House, Andrea spends their free time reading too many books, going on bike rides, and rearranging the furniture.