Nurtured

The retreat got off to a challenging beginning, what with the tornado warnings on the drive down.  Several of us had to pull off the road and wait out the scary weather.  Nikki, Marie and I stopped at a rest area which turned out not to have one of those storm shelter bathrooms but there was a guy with laptop access to a weather radar map so we knew when to stay put and when it was safe to drive on. 

Nikki is a driving super-hero now, unafraid of driving in crazy weather and also willing to run out to her car to get me a forgotten jacket.  Here she is drying off her super-hero raincoat.

Once at the convent, the good times began to roll, however, and we had a lovely evening.  Here is the signage on the wall of the room where we met:

Dad, I can see why you didn't send me to Latin School now.  For everyone else if you don't get it, well, it's a private joke.

The weather Saturday was still cold and rainy, not good for being outdoors..  We had our morning meetings indoors.  In the afternoon we had naps, we sat in front of the fireplace, and some of us got silly.  Specifically Kathy, Jean, and I...we climbed onto a twin bed with some glasses of wine and giggled loudly enough to keep some would-be nappers awake.  (We were told this later or we would have hushed up, of course, as naps are one of my particularly favorite parts of the retreat.)  Here is a picture of Kathy and Jean just before the wine-spilling incident...

And here is Jeannie just after that same incident:

But here we are a little later, you can see how repentant we are:

And forgive us our spillages as we forgive those who have spilled against us.

As always the retreat was just what I needed and I always look forward to the next one.  Which for those of you who might like to attend, is April 21 to 23, 2012.