Wisdom Literature

I went to the clergy spouses' retreat this weekend. It was pretty fabulous. Yoga, massage, meals, a little night theater, and whatever else we felt like doing. Fortunately, and I say this in complete modesty, we had me along.

I never ever like to talk people into doing things, exactly, but I was ready for anyone to knit who wanted to. When I get excited about something I think I just get infectious about it. My friend Cheri, who is a clergy spouse but was at the same center for a different retreat, remarked that I was always pleased to find myself the center of attention. I replied that she had certainly nailed that aspect of it, although I said (and she agreed) that I really did want to knit and the knitting aspect of it was what I wanted to do, and I would have been there knitting even if I were the only one. But yeah, that other thing too.

Eventually, anyway, there were lots of knitters doing their stuff, and, although they had brought their projects just in case, I don't know that everybody expected to knit when they came. It all turned out well. There were more knitters than hikers even, which proves my theory that good sense will always prevail.

Unfortunately I lost a pretty massive filling in my molar, and I think the molar or the jaw or something is getting infected, and the lymph node is swollen, and it feels as though there is a hard-boiled egg lodged in my neck. I called the dentist and he prescribed some penicillin and I hope he will see me on Monday and probably take this stupid molar out, which he has been wanting to do for 15 years.

The great news is that I finally, after 15 or 16 false starts, have my daughter's mittens underway. It is by far the most times I have ever started a project, and of course it's not through yet, even the first mitten, in fact it's just past the cuff ribbing, but I feel as though this time it's going to take. It was mostly a matter if the right needles and the right tension.

Here's what it looks like at the moment:

So that was the first annual clergy spouses' retreat and I think everybody had a really great time, and I'm expecting it went well enough that there will at least be a second one. One of the cool things about being with clergy spouses is that they don't take the priests and bishops and deacons nearly as seriously as their congregations do, and, in many cases (I suspect) as seriously as the clergy take themselves.

I have a photo I took of a bunch of the group in the dining hall.