Women's Retreat Part I - 1/23/07

Lost

Where to begin, but at the beginning. When I left home early Friday evening (about 5:00 p.m.) I thought I'd arrive at my destination by 5:30 or 5:45. I had printed out detailed driving directions from Mapquest and felt confident that I would have no problems . The first part of the trip went well. I was in familiar territory; traveled back in my young adulthood. Where it proved problematic was when Brink Road took an unexpected split (which I apparently missed). I should have reached the next turn-off within 4 miles. After 9 miles I decided to double back and realized what I had done. I was no longer on Brink Rd., but on Goshen Rd. instead. When I got back to the split I turned back onto Brink Rd. apparently going in the wrong direction yet again. Eventually I ran into Rt. 27 which I knew would take me to Rt. 355 which would get me to my destination. Unfortunately I took a wrong turn on Rt. 27 and had to make an immediate u-turn. After I got onto Rt. 355 I gave up and called Warren to look at the map so that I would head in the right direction on Rt. 355. With his help I quickly found my next target which was Shakespeare Blvd. and Neelesville Church Rd. You guessed it, I made the wrong turn onto Neelesville Church Rd., but once I turned around I found the Retreat Center at long last. I arrived at 6:30 p.m. just in time to join the others in the main building for dinner. I took the last parking space at the far end of the parking lot.

After dinner we held our opening circle. Each woman gave an introduction of herself and spoke of her intention for the weekend. We each brought an object for the altar that represented what was calling us in our lives at this time. I brought a set of 3 antique keys on a string. They represented finding the keys to open new doors in my life. During my introduction, I spoke of the healing journey that Warren and I have been on for the last 4 years and how I've felt like I was being "called" into some kind of healing work.

I had a room in the main building as it was the only room with a handicapped accessible bathroom. The bed wasn't too comfortable, so I didn't get much sleep. I kept waking up every half hour or so to turn over.

After our evening session on Friday and most of the people had left for their cabins, I decided to get my suitcase out of my car. When I went to the door where we'd all left our shoes, my shoes were conspicuous by their absence. There was a pair of New Balance shoes there, but not mine and not my size. Someone had gone off with my shoes by mistake! So now what? I brought slippers, but they were still out in the car in the suitcase. I decided that my only recourse was to walk to the car in my stocking feet, in the freezing cold, across a gravel road to the far end of a gravel parking lot in the dark! And so I did even though it seemed like a really dumb thing to do. I was just glad at that point the parking lot wasn't covered in hot coals. In some strange way I felt like I had to do that strange walk. Was it penance? Or was it holding up a mirror to my behavior of not asking for help when I need it? As it turns out, the retreat leader's car was right there and she could have driven me to my car. In fact she was looking for me all over the building while I was out on this adventure. I decided to drive back to the building. The next morning my shoes showed up quietly. I never learned who had taken them by mistake, but I picked them up and kept them in my room after that. Very funny don't you think?