reporting in

Well … I’m back from what one friend dubbed my “Prospective Novice Weekend.” Stay in the dorms, meet the students … stay in the convent, meet the Sisters. You get the gist.

It was a great trip. Tons to process. The practical purpose of the trip was a tremendous success. I saw where I will (God willing) be living in September. I walked the beautiful grounds, took lots of pictures (this is the actual view … crazy), took a tour of the soon to be novitiate house, etc… The added bonus of course was meeting the accomplished and warm hearted women who live at St. Michael’s Villa … they have an infirmary and assisted living set up for many of the east coast senior sisters. I found the same groovy spirit in each one I met that I have come to love in the Sisters out west. I also think I broke a record for seeing as much of the province in 3 days as is humanly possible. It gave me a real feel for the history and present of the Sisters in New Jersey. Oh yeah, I got to bond more with my fellow candidates from the east … who also have that same spunky spirit!

So it was an amazing intense weekend. I say intense because of all that was crammed into it, the anxiety and nerves of wondering what it will be like come the fall, and the surprising realization that I have some very non-bloggable personal and emotional issues tied to moving back to the east coast that I thought I’d “worked out” in therapy many moons ago. It’s not that I have a grudge against an entire region, it’s just that I was never able to be me until I moved out west and so there’s some heavy feelings and healing to be done there. Good to recognize that now rather than when I land so I can do some work on it between now and then and be prepared for the heaviness. But even with that surprise, I am excited and happy and at peace with this whole moving along the path to groovy sisterhood thing.

On that note, I’m exhausted and face HELL at work tomorrow (or today as it’s 1:15 am .. .best get to bed. My flight was 3 hours late, but I did sleep on the plane). Please keep me in your prayers. A very high profile controversy broke while I was gone and I have no idea what I’m walking into, except that it will be very intense as well. Not the least because my poor coworkers have had to deal with my mess while I was on my spy mission. Timing …