Sugar Bend Farm

Get-away

Have you ever felt like you just needed to get away?  Not a vacation, but a retreat.  Would I be a horrible mother if I said that I needed a retreat right now.  Not a organized retreat for women or a group of people, but just for me.  I wish I had a cabin in the mountains that I could go to for at least a long weekend.  Just me by myself; a place where I felt safe being alone, so that I wouldn't be jumpy the whole time, afraid of someone coming up and trying to harm me.  If my parents would come to my home and take care of my children, then I wouldn't worry about their well being; then I could relax and enjoy my get-away.  But since I don't have a place in the mountains, and I can't afford to take the extra money right now to go to a hotel, I will just have to stay home and continue on my routine and take a few minutes here and a few minutes there to have mini-retreats throughout my day.  Something about fall that makes me what to pull into myself and renew and find strength, and make plans for my future, set a course and then spend the winter working on the details of that plan.  Then come spring, set the plan or course of action into motion.  Fall is my time of reflection and redirection.  I reassess my life and dreams; determine where I am in the whole scheme of things and either change directions, or reestablish the path that I am on.  So since a weekend retreat is out of the question because of parental responsibilities and financial constraints, what can I do to feel as though I have had a retreat?  Well, there is one consolation, my parents are coming for a visit next week.  They will get here on Thursday and stay a week or so, while they are here I am going to take a day, if nothing else, a day to go somewhere and relax.  Where to go?  Maybe I will just get in the car and drive, drive up north of here into the hills and see the fall colors.  Maybe stop in some quaint little cafe and have brunch and coffee; I rarely have coffee; maybe find an out of the way bookstore that carries old and out of print books, or a flea market/antique store to browse through.  Something to refresh my soul.  Maybe just drive and take photographs of the color changes, old barns and murals on the side of downtown buildings.  Maybe find a park where I can take a picnic lunch and write or sketch a while.  The possibilities are endless, and I am excited at the prospects of it all.  A day just for me...Then I will come home, hopefully renewed, restored, refreshed, and full of joy and creativity.  We all need a get-away every now and then.  Although if time, money and everything were available, my get-away plans would be more elaborate and exciting, but you take what you can get, when your soul needs nurturing and your spirit need to be feed.  So I am off to plan a day trip, just for me, a place to reconnect with my inner self, a place to remember that I am more than just a wife, mother, daughter and care giver to those who depend upon me.  More than just a housekeeper, cook, groundskeeper, and laundry girl, but I am a WOMAN; an intelligent, talented, creative woman that has more to offer than I give myself credit for. There is more to me than just the surface that you see when you look at me.  More to me than the clothes I wear, the house I live in, and the car I drive.  So much more that gets covered up with the daily grind and daily activies of a stay-at-home mom.  I will find that woman, the one with plans, dreams, hopes, ideas, a personality, likes, dislikes, and needs.  I will set aside, just for the day, all of the needs of others, (placing them in responsible hands), and just see to my own needs.  Then when I return, I will be ready once again to fulfill the needs of my family once more.  We all could really use a get-away, even if it is just for a day. 

Untitled Comment

2:33 PM, 2006-Oct-13 .. Posted by mc2rwe

Wow... I was humbled by this post. I remember feeling like that when I had kids at home. And I have always thought of fall as my reflective season. I know that in fall I always feel renewed in my walk with God. Maybe it is because, just like with the leaves outside, everything is dying and that is what happens to my "old man flesh" when my spirit is renewed. Thank you for sharing this post...

Kat

retreat

6:41 PM, 2006-Oct-13 .. Posted by sweetie

You and I could be twins on our ideas of a day away! I didnt realize you were in Arkansas too! I'm in Stephens!
The double oven was at a yard sale, I received a stainless dishwasher for $10 much the same way, a $1000 unit, someone hated in stainless so she deposited it for the trash to pick up when it was 10 days old! God is good! I came home from teaching 2, almost 3 years ago and we're homeschooling our ten year old this year.
I think taking time for renewal is a most important thing. I think we are our best selves when we take time to be alone, to pray, to spend time rediscovering our needs and ourselves. I hope to know you better!
hugs
Sweetie