Moving right along...

Reminds me of the muppets song. Moving Right along. That is pretty much what is happening up here this fall. I cant tell you the RELIEF and GRATITUDE i feel towards mother nature for NOT dusting DUMPING snow on us this weekend. I am sorry all you peeps in PA and north but wow, glad that wasnt me. Instead on saturday afternoon Rich and I got out for a wonderful ride and even tho it was 50 it sure didnt feel that warm.  My parents were stuck in PA and barely got home late saturday night. Nothing like some time on the tarmac in Allentown, and then at O'hare. At least when they got to Chicago they new they could get back home.

Rich put on a retreat at his church this weekend. Sounds pretty boring and scarey doesnt it?:) I am not Catholic, he is. It's pretty awesome that the retreat is non denominational. It really doesnt matter what your religious beliefs are, as long as you have some sort of belief. In a God, or in a higher power or you name it.
Centering Prayer is a method designed to facilitate the development of a Contemplative Prayer by preparing us to receive the gift of a relationship with God. Centering Prayer is a meditative practice that in a nutshell, allows us to get out of the way and listen to God. Not really to TALK TO HIM, I personally think that as in so many things in our lives, we are in the way of our own progress and growth. It's called " I want control..." And really, again, in my opinion, we dont have control over what is going to happen. We do have free will, so as much as one can say "There isnt a God, bc why do bad things happen to good people then?" ( ahem, dont you think i may be prone to this thought?) With free will and with things like natural disaster or even illness that is not from exercising our own free will to smoke, drink and live an unhealthy lifestyle, well...things do happen for a reason. And its up to us to not hate and blame and use the victim card, but to be ever so thankful for what you have today, right now, today.

So you may think i have gone all "church lady" on y'all. Not really. I dont talk about spirituality much, but i do come from a line or Lutheran ministers and even a Bishop on my mom's side. So its never too far from my core, and even tho I dont talk alot about it, its with me. My faith.

I loved this retreat bc it gave me some more tools to feel like i could find some meaning to Rich's diagnosis, and also bc Rich worked SO DANG hard on this. And since this is sort of a Tri blog at times I couldnt help but relate to Elf's blog about Stillness. One quote that really hit me with I read her blog is "Be Still and Know that I am God" Psalm 46:10. Or for some of you it may just be a plain " Stop thinking so much," just let the race unfold. You may not want to lay it all into God's hands, that is ok, but stop judging yourself, others, blaming yourself, others, the weather etc...just get out of your own way! Or as someone i know tells me " Get over your bad self."

So other than riding my bike a few times, freezing my fingers a bit ( but not too much heck it was still 40!) I had a great weekend. We also watched Step Brothers, and if you need help with that "Pan, Pand thing," let me know.