10/8/09

Stairway

Today I opened my mail and found a card from one of the wonderful gals at the retreat. It enclosed three photographs, two of me painting a very cheerful painting and looking remarkably crabby (unfortunately, I think that's probably my 'neutral setting', face-wise), and one of all of us as a group.

The group photo was taken at the very end of the retreat. We had just finished the last group exercise, which was a lovely goodbye ceremony... during which many of us, and me most particularly, leaked muchly from the eyes (and in my case, less attractively, from the nose). But there we are, stacked two-by-two on the stairs, all of us glowing, and those radiant smiles are just as sincere as the tears of moments before. The sight makes me smile (hopefully un-crabbying my face, just for a moment).

It was an amazing thing, that retreat. Those were amazing women, those gals.

It seems miraculous to me that human beings are built in such a way, with such spirit that we can grow to love so many people in less than four days. Such a short time by the ticking of the clock, but a perfectly adequate time by the beating of the heart.

2 comments:

Delighted Hands said...

Words to savor, thank you for them.

Carrie K said...

It sounds fabulous, even if there's a hell of a entry price. ;)