the day after

on monday i returned from a retreat with the core group of the community. the night before we'd talked about what we'd say if someone asked about the retreat. my response had been that i hope no one asked! at least not for a couple of days. i just wanted to spend some time resting or reading or thinking and being mostly alone - and after that, i'd be able to talk about it well.

and it's now a bit more than the day after. and i've read lots. i went biking for most of tuesday. i went to work on wednesday and thursday and thought all day. and i'm feeling a lot more like myself and a lot less like my exhausted day after self.

and i can now honestly say that the retreat was good. although i'd been along for a winter retreat with the community, i'd never been along for the longer summer retreat. and since it was new, and all in dutch, and i was partially responsible for the younger children's program, and there would be a lot of people around a lot of the time, i was a bit anxious about it all. but i not only survived, it was good. i had a lot of lovely talks with different people. i could follow almost all of what was going on around me. i got to hang out with children (and we got to read our very own letters from Paul and do fun stuff). i worked hard. i laughed. i saw and understood others better - and felt like others got to see me more. i felt accepted and was accepted as more a part of the community.

and thus, all in all, even if it was tiring, i can say that it was very good. and even if i'm not sure i'll ever be super excited for another such retreat, i think i might actually admit to looking forward to at least parts of it [like having it in Norway :)]