Posted by tee in photos
Leave a Comment | Permalink | Add this to …

This weekend was an incredible exercise in stretching my mind, and my perceptions, to take in new values to replace old, outdated ones I’d hung on to for such a long time. Never in my life did I - a tomboy impatient with almost anything girl-like - ever think I’d find myself enjoying a “girl-cation”, a collection of women on retreat.

But that’s exactly what I did this weekend: enjoy ten other fascinating, funny, intelligent, adorable, effectual women from all over the country, all in some way connected through Toni in Chicago who organized the trip (thank you!). Eight of them I’d never met until Friday afternoon when we arrived at “FRED 2007″ HQ in Salida. Come mid-morning today, saying goodbye was a little tough.

Rather than hash it all out in essay form, a few favorite moments (those suitable for public consumption, anyway) instead:

:: Walking in after most of the crew had arrived, and being absorbed immediately into the fold of conversation

:: Smoothies at the Cowgirl Coffee Company

:: Being blasted and soaked with Bailey’s shake mix when the lid flew off the blender while it was on high

:: Feverishly working to repair a scratch in the wood floors when we all had the bright idea to push another big leather couch into the living room

:: Laughing, near hysterical at times, with Mimi in our room until 4am Sunday morning

:: All the incredible night conversations in our PJs over drinks when we settled back in for the night each night, peeling away layers of each other

:: Listening to coyote choruses in the early morning, something I’ve missed terribly since we moved back into town this summer

:: Sitting on the deck surrounded by dramatic lightning strikes and thunder in all directions, letting the rain splash on my feet and legs

:: Realizing that I’d figured out what I figured I’d need to figure out before I came home, and feeling that weight lifted. Immediately.

Posted by tee in de la vida, photos
Leave a Comment | Permalink | Add this to …