As 2005 began, I knew my deployment to Würzburg, Germany, would likely end in a few months. I would be able to return to my family in our new home in South Carolina; they had moved soon after my deployment began. However, I knew I would need to seek employment.
I was a bi-vocational Lutheran pastor, teaching high school for my primary employment. My concern was whether or not I would be able to look for a position in the spring or early summer. While I could do some things online and my wife did what she could for me, there were a lot of unanswered questions.
In January I figured I could take one last trip with my BahnCard 50. Without waiting a week to book a train with a 50% discount, I could go on the spur of the moment. I made a quick trip to Dresden, deciding against Leipzig. It was a difficult choice but I think the right one.
"Florence on the Elbe" the Saxon capital was called. It suffered a horrific bombing in 1945 weeks before the war ended in Europe; Kurt Vonnegut was a POW working underground and survived to write Slaughterhouse Five and much more. The city was gradually rebuilt with the restoration of previous buildings alongside newer neo-Stalinist buildings.
I saw the Zwinger, the Albertinum art gallery walked around and rode the S-Bahn, went to the exhibit in the basement of the Frauenkirche, finally being rebuilt, and even saw a movie. One afternoon I saw an Orthodox church and went in.
St. Simeon of the Wonderful Mountian was built in the 1870s. I admired the icons and the rest of the architecture, and saw an icon of St. Irene (her name means peace in Greek). Peace is what I needed right then. I lit a candle, said a prayer, and bought an icon pictured above. When I left I felt that everything would work out, that all would be well, all manner of things would be well, as Julian of Norwich reminded us.
My unit redeployed in early April 2005. On April 15 I came to my new home to stay. by the end of that month, I had several interviews and a job offer. Peace had come to me.
A friend and colleague recently was in Dresden, and I thought back on my brief time there.
Links to my books:
https://www.amazon.com/Books-Arthur-Turfa/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AArthur+Turfa
https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county
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