home from retreat

I'm back from a week-long meditation retreat and my heart is open and achy and tender.

I got home a little before 5pm on Saturday and slept 15 hours. I spent most of yesterday in bed and took today off to mope and to recover from this cold/cough that started yesterday.

While I was on retreat Nemo my cat died. This weekend one of my chickens, Big Mama died. I suppose the message from the universe is "LET GO!" or perhaps "Remember Impermanence!"

I'm so attached to this graduating group, and I know I need to let them go. They are so amazing and brave and strong and talented and smart and loving and wow, I guess I could go on and on. This group has been my "baby"...I started a few months before they began their journey, even interviewed some of them. I sat in on classes with this group, learned to meditate with this group, mourned my first pets, Chicken and Duck, with this group, watched them develop as a community and as therapists.

I am so proud of them all. And it is so hard to let them go.

Tomorrow I head back up to SMC to set up the next month-long retreat.