nobody knows their own town

i just got back from taking max to the dogpark. finding this place was a 4-attempt ordeal. i believe i already mentioned it briefly, but since the first time i tried to find it, i've been looking 3 other times (although once was only half-heartedly). apparently, google maps knows beaverton about as well as mapquest knows portsmouth. so the street the park was actually on was nowhere in the directions.
this wouldn't have been so bad if people actually knew their way around the town they live in. but apparently, no one ever goes anywhere so everyone told me something different. seriously, including mapquest, i got 4 different sets of directions before someone nice who was going the same place offered to lead me there. there was no way i would have found it otherwise, because it was hidden in a neighborhood and the street the park is on is not listed on the internet. why don't people know their own town?
once we got there, it was good though. max mostly behaved himself, and he got worn out. that's good, because i start my new job tomorrow, and i'll probably be gone a long time.
today, i met with a friend of my family that i've known since i lived in santa rosa. this is the woman who taught me how to eat calamari by saying it was onion rings. she's great, and she invited me to go to church with her. i don't really like her church all that much, but the people were nice and there was a picnic afterwards. i spent too long talking to her before and after the picnic, but since i still got to take max to the park, it was ok. i should have gotten a lot more done today, but i felt like she needed my company, so i stayed with her and chatted until almost 6:00.
she wants me to become part of her church, but i don't know how to tell her that i look for basically opposite things in a church than the one she goes to. i don't want to hurt her feelings, and it's not like i won't go with her ever, but i want to find a church like the one i went to in norfolk; first presbyterian. her church is a foundling greek orthodox church, which is fine, but they do the liturgy entirely in english. most people would think that's a good thing, since most people want to understand what is being said in church. but for me, it's not good. here's why:
1. i understand greek
2. i don't really believe everything that the orthodox church believes. i mean, don't get me wrong, i don't think they're going to hell or anything nearly so judgemental, but i just have some differences of opinion on how to worship.
3. you might wonder why i go to the orthodox church at all given these differences of opinion, and i'll tell you why. it's for the same reason my family has always gone: to appreciate the beauty of the traditional service (the oldest Christian form of worship). it's comforting. that's why it being in english sucks for me...i only go to the greek church for the greek-ness, and the comfort of tradition.
4. the orthodox church isn't a big fan of me since i got married at the courthouse. this obviously makes me feel bad. i'm not really excommunicated, but i can't take communion, and i can't baptize anyone (not even my nephew), and i couldn't teach sunday school even if i wanted to. so one could understand why i'd rather go to the presbyterian church, which acknowleges my marriage as being legitimate and accepts me completely. i can take communion there and baptize if i wanted to.

so anyway, i'm not sure i really want advice on that issue, but feel free to give advice if you have any. i'll just call my mom. she's friends with the woman, and she's had to deal with going to the church but not really agreeing with them her whole adult life. the thing is, my parents always went to two church services every sunday morning, and i did too, but the presbyterian church up here i think starts the same time the orthodox church does. plus, i don't think i really have that in me. it's much harder with nathan and the dog and a busy life in the picture. so i'm going to have to alternate sundays and hope to keep our friend happy. i do want to be involved, but i don't want it to be my home church, and i think it's vastly important for me that i finally join a church now that we're settled. i would have joined first presbyterian in norfolk if we were going to stick around, but i knew we weren't.
it's really good to have someone here that we know. like i said, i've known her my whole life, and my mom has always had good people as friends. and for some reason, i've always enjoyed the company of older people. i guess having older parents (my mom was 44 when she had me) i learned to appreciate their stories and their point of view a lot more than some people my age. i learned some important lessons very young from talking to my mom's friends. one of the best lessons was that it doesn't matter how old you are physically, it's much more important to be young at heart. i've been less afraid of aging than i would have been otherwise. one of mom's friends in particular was much older than she was but seemed to cool and lively to me when i was little that i concluded that her age didn't really make her older than mom, her attitude made her much younger.
i guess my point is, there's a lot of wisdom to be gained from associating with older folks and i feel really lucky to have learned that when i was little.