I joined the monastary this weekend
I'm back. That was a very interesting weekend. I spent the weekend at the monastary. I had a pretty good time. Ok, the food left much to be desired, but the good news is with all the blan food and exercise I did, I lost 2 pounds!
I finally met one of my new friends. I got flowers! Yellow roses and daisies! Awww! He's sweet. I enjoyed talking to him this weekend, but I think next retreat I'm going to go solo. It was nice having someone there to talk to, but it kind of took away from the overall experience a bit.
I learned quite a bit from the sessions and met some really interesting people. I think I'm good on church for the next month or two! Between vigils, vespers, sexts, lauds, and compline.... Yeah. And would you believe I actually got up early! For mass no less! I by-passed the 4am vigil, but I made it to the 7am lauds yesterday and today. It was a very unique experience living with and attending services with the monks. I finally got the hang of the chanting and figured out how to find my place in the service books--just in time for the last one! I even broke my creative block! I did two drawings and wrote a poem throughout the retreat. In all I'm glad I went. I think I'll probaby do it again in a couple months.
I did a lot of thinking this weekend. Kind of hard not to when the whole building is so quiet you can hear the person down the hall turning pages of their book! I don't feel so confused anymore. I'm still confused over some things, but others seem to have gotten a little clearer. I still need some time to figure things out, but I'm getting there. I haven't really come to any conclusions, mostly just feelings. It's hard to put into words.