Good morning. My name is Tarver. Dana has invited me to say a few words about why I have joined this congregation.

This past December, quite by chance, I met a Unitarian Universalist from the South Peel congregation at a Baltic solstice party. UUism came up in the conversation and piqued my interest. I looked you up on the Web, and then, in January, I came to check you out in person. The very next week, at the second service I ever attended, I joined. On the one hand I know exactly why I'm here, and yet on the other hand I have only the faintest of clues.

Joining this church was a lot like marrying my wife, Dace. She and I met on a road trip to Ottawa one January. On the twelfth day after we met, we announced our engagement, having by then already kept it to ourselves for a week. Neither of us ever proposed; we just started making plans. We moved in together within weeks, we consolidated our finances, we were married at City Hall in May, and we had a big party for all our friends in August. That was eight years ago, and now we have a wonderful 19 month old toddler, Reinis.

Given a supportive and nurturing environment, most children thrive. But still, nobody ever knows in advance how -- and into whom -- a child will grow up. Likewise, I do not know where my spiritual path will lead, but I do know a supportive and nurturing environment when I see one.

I keenly feel the need for such an environment because, as it turns out, I am recovering from a major depression. I have realized that the only way to heal myself is from the ground up because all aspects of human life are related. Mental and physical health are joined at the head; emotional and social well-being share the same heart. I happen to have an eclectic set of beliefs which are difficult if not impossible to express in any one of the usual idioms. I seem to be some kind of atheist / rationalist / humanist with pronounced pagan overtones. To regain and retain my health, I must integrate myself, heal all aspects of myself, and allow myself to continue growing as a whole person even as I provide for a child who is doing the same. The best way to raise a child well is to treat everyone well, including myself, and to make no exceptions for the child. This must be done on principle and on faith because you cannot know, in advance, why you are doing it, what the result will be.

So it turns out that I am here in order to find out why I am here. I joined this congregation because I knew right away that I needed to be here, that I belonged here, just like I knew right away that I wanted to marry Dace even though the exact reasons, at the time, were inscrutable; indeed eight years later Dace and I are still working out the reasons for, and the details, of our marriage. Similarly, in the months and years and decades ahead I look forward to sharing with you my ongoing discovery of why I am here at First.

Thank you for welcoming me.

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