Ahhhhh Vacation!

Flower from the Moonglow Bay Garden

A lot has been happening in my life!  I have a new job!  I am a Curriculum Implementation Manager for the company Achieve3000.  I will basically be going into all different schools giving professional development to teachers and administrators.  It's right up my alley and a good mix of my skills and talents as an educator.  I'm thrilled!  So between ending a school year and beginning a new job, the blog life has been on the back burner. 

View from our Deck

But...as I type I am sitting outside, overlooking the river, sun shining and a gentle breeze.  I'm at Moonglow Bay, a vacation home that a group of my nuns and I rent for the week.  It's glorious.  They are the perfect people to vacation with.  We relax, read, play together, pray together, share meals, laughter, and stories.  It's a chance to celebrate our community life as well as have time and space to retreat and nourish our spirits.  We get all get along great and there's always something to do...if you want to!

I had pie-making lessons from
Mary "Pie Maker" Extraordinaire"

I think vacationing is actually an important part of community life.  In our "regular lives" we negotiate the day-to-day living along with ministry responsibilities.  We carve out intentional time to live communally, pray, and play.  Laugh if you want, but I think being able to relax and just be together is another art that people have to negotiate in community life. 

How are we with one another when we eliminate the structure of the day-to-day?  Can we find time to be together and be comfortable with being on our own...or in different configurations of groups?  How do we communicate "vacation expectations"?  It's a different pace, a different routine...all which I think bring us closer as community as well as helps us grow as people.  (Yes...a true educator...I just transformed the concept of "vacation" into a learning process).

Sparklers for the 4th of July

 
With the images, I'm trying to capture the more unique aspects of vacation in an artful way.  It's all about the R's--refresh, relax, rejuvenate, revive, reconnect, reestablish, relationships...etc.  Enjoy this first offering of Vacation 2011...

Quintessential Vacation Pose---Lounging with Kindle