We gathered on Thursday night in this really FUN house. We prepared cafe rio type salads and did 2 truths and a lie ice breaker to begin getting to know each other. Then we gathered for Story time where everyone gets to share a story from their life. What ever they want to talk about for 7 minutes. We learned about adoption, how I met my husband, one of my funny kisses, how kids say the darndest thing, gay kids, kids in jail, moving a lot, chicken capers....you name it we shared about it.
In attendance were some of my old friends, two ladies that came together from Mountain Green but didn't know anyone else there, another lady that my friend brought down from her work, and another lady that came who didn't know anyone. She just wanted an adventure! I'm always to impressed with the courage it takes to jump into a fairly intimate situation with strangers. BUT I know that within a few minutes, personal barriers are brought down and we see that we have more in common that we do different. It's a beautiful thing to witness.
So Many lovely women came to play.. Back row: Becky Farley - our Mindfulness and Meditation teacher, Laureen Carlsen- Miss Personality, Jacki Taylor- who tells it like it is, Darlene House- full of energy and love, Kimi Farley- my right hand and all around great gal, Me. Front Row: Tammy Siebert- so kind and caring, Danine Davis- Fit and ready for adventure, Annett Pond- Miss WOW and Laura Belnap-- who knows everyone...or made some kind of connection.
Day two brought an early morning walk in the frigid sunshine, learning about whole hearted living and then jumping in with both hands in to a painting project to get everyone out of their comfort zones and to practice creativity and not living in comparison.
THE SNOW came back. It was beautiful to watch out out deck. We stayed inside and learned about Mindfulness and Meditation from a wonderful teacher- Becky Farley. She has a gift and is so engaging and supporting to everyone as we all tried to wrap our minds and spirits around the art of mediation. She put us all through a guided meditation at the end, that put some of us to sleep-- it was that relaxing. We all promised to at least practice the breathing part of this mindfulness at red stop lights!
That night Debbie Zockoll came and spoke to us. She has run 268 marathons in the past 4 decades. She has run every single St. George Marathon sometimes pregnant, sometimes in the middle of chemo...she has also beat cancer twice... in 2005 and 2016-- and ran marathons those years as well. She really is inspiring and not intimidating. Such a beautiful soul.
We laughed and cried and shared and supported and ate and laughed some more. The Sun came up and it was time to head out. Lots of hugs and we all drove off into the cold SUNSHINE.
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