Retreat

After an utterly frantically busy couple of weeks dealing with the tax quarter numbers I am departing on retreat later. My first. Excitement bubbles, mixing occasionally with anxiety and anticipation.

In odd moments of downtime I have realised that my very unMethodist fascination with the Catholic Church and the spiritual writings of the saints began in my twenties when a friend went on retreat and I was envious beyond measure. Life here was such that back then you had to be Catholic to go to a Catholic Centre and no one else did retreats. Even though I have been Catholic for fifteen years now this is the first occasion when I have been in a position to go, family wise, work wise, health wise. I suspect that I have been emotionally and mentally to vulnerable to do this before now also.

Now my husband and Small will manage on their own, and my assistant will run my office and all of them will look after Os the small kitten that joined our family last week.

The preparation for this retreat has had its ups and downs and it has been on and off again at least twice. Now the day is come and I set off for the Benedictine Monastery and Mission isolated in the rural area's this afternoon. I will not have connectivity, and as I did on holiday recently I look forward to being unavailable for four days.