Friday Freewrite Fifteen

Such a good poem. It made me think of one of my directees who is only in her 30s but has been through so much that she is out of the "Productive" Stage 3 of Hagberg and Guelich's The Critical Journey. Wise beyond her years. 

Going through hell early on has its advantages. She has been through it, spiritual abuse from church, and health issues. I get that. Pain can be a great teacher, but it is never fun in the middle of it. It is nice to reflect on it and say, "That was painful but I learned so much through it. I wouldn't trade it, but please Lord, I would prefer not to go through that again." 

Today is a low-key day. I am supposed to go to a group intercession time at 8 am, but I don't know the people, and that is awkward for me. Then, I meet with one of the people I am sponsoring for the OMS at 9 am. Always a rousing conversation. I might just do my final exit interview now since the window of doing that starts in nine days, and I want to take a break in the summer. I will still meet with directees, but I will meet for two days at the beginning of July and three days at the end. Then, it starts all over again if the 2HC is a go next year. 

With these two Spiritual Exercises groups, it is difficult to know if I will have the capacity for all that I have put before me. The good news is that I got a definite NO about supervising new spiritual directors through Deepen starting in January. (That would make me work through the summer in 2025, and I want to not be working through the summer with these groups.) I was asked to supervise directors in training starting in October 2025, and I will probably say yes to that because the people I would be supervising are international workers in areas that are my passion. So, I have that penciled in, and it would require a mid-October 2025 trip to Spain. So, I would like to combine that with two weeks on the Camino de Santiago! So, something to dream about in the future.

So, 2HC will be over next Saturday at 9 am. Then just those few directees and one Silent Prayer time, and I am on VACATION to the Great Lakes. I cannot even describe how excited I am to have uninterrupted time with George enjoying the beauty of being in a boat on the water: a big ship (378 passengers), special operations boats (about 16), Zodiak boats (8?), and kayak (just me and George together in beautiful Canada!).

I want some time to reorient for this trip. I had a strange lull in activity at the beginning of April. So, I did a lot of research on the places we will be going, but I have not had enough time to really get back to it. 

I took a wonderful walk this morning at 54 degrees. Now it is warming up and will be a high of 86. We have a late dinner with our community/family group out on our deck since we cannot meet on Sunday since we are celebrating Father's Day late with our bugs. I think we are going to Pop's in Albany. Comfort food. So fun. The kids have never been there, and I think they will like the big menu. So, American (even American flags stuck in the food). 

Bye!