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thrihyrneI had a great trip to Louisiana seeing ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
llembas and then my grandmother, but the drive home yesterday was absolutely hellish. Not only is it 10 hours when the weather is decent, but add in nonstop rain, sometimes torrential, and it was simply a nightmare. I had to take a long, hot soak with some eucalyptus babywash stuff to feel any better.
All that to say... I'm now going to run a couple of errands and then will be driving 5 hours up to Bethany Springs, Kentucky, where I'll be on a retreat of sorts until Friday. I'll be both computerless and internetless for that time. I think that scares me above all else; I'll probably end up combing the nearby town of Danville on Wednesday, desperately looking for a public library. ;) So I won't be posting through this week- not much else to report, actually, except that one of the main highlights that should have been during my trip to Shreveport wasllembas and I were going to get tattoos, and due to all sorts of unexpected happenstance and general bad karma, we are still tattoo-free. Grrrrr.
My car is mostly packed; I had an inexplicably tall stack of books, a journal, some legal pads for writing, two knitting projects, a CD player and my camera. It will be a retreat, but also several whole days when I won't need to talk to anyone if I don't want to (except at dinner and afterwards when they have a brief service) and can actually read some of these books that have been given to me by friends and my therapist. One I'm really enjoying is called Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto by Anneli Rufus. It's so liberating to read a book about how it's okay if you don't want to be around people all the time; that because you really crave time by yourself is NOT a pathological character trait... I'm really enjoying it. Here are just a few sentences from the chapter on friendship:
With that, I'll quickly check my work email and check up on my coworker who hadn't realized I was taking a couple of weeks off, make sure I have correct directions to this place which is pretty far off the beaten path, and enjoy 4 1/2 days to myself!
llembas and then my grandmother, but the drive home yesterday was absolutely hellish. Not only is it 10 hours when the weather is decent, but add in nonstop rain, sometimes torrential, and it was simply a nightmare. I had to take a long, hot soak with some eucalyptus babywash stuff to feel any better.All that to say... I'm now going to run a couple of errands and then will be driving 5 hours up to Bethany Springs, Kentucky, where I'll be on a retreat of sorts until Friday. I'll be both computerless and internetless for that time. I think that scares me above all else; I'll probably end up combing the nearby town of Danville on Wednesday, desperately looking for a public library. ;) So I won't be posting through this week- not much else to report, actually, except that one of the main highlights that should have been during my trip to Shreveport was
llembas and I were going to get tattoos, and due to all sorts of unexpected happenstance and general bad karma, we are still tattoo-free. Grrrrr.My car is mostly packed; I had an inexplicably tall stack of books, a journal, some legal pads for writing, two knitting projects, a CD player and my camera. It will be a retreat, but also several whole days when I won't need to talk to anyone if I don't want to (except at dinner and afterwards when they have a brief service) and can actually read some of these books that have been given to me by friends and my therapist. One I'm really enjoying is called Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto by Anneli Rufus. It's so liberating to read a book about how it's okay if you don't want to be around people all the time; that because you really crave time by yourself is NOT a pathological character trait... I'm really enjoying it. Here are just a few sentences from the chapter on friendship:
- We care. We feel. We think. We do not always miss the absent one. We cannot always come when called. Being friends with a loner requires patience and the wisdom that distance does not mean dislike.
...I do not seize the phone and call her, or anyone, when I feel miserable. This is one of those acid tests that separate the true loner from the person who is alone but would much rather not be: even in the gloomiest gloom, it is not my instinct to talk it over. Not that I am sufficiently brilliant as to console myself every time. It is more of a wallow. But instinct is instinct, and instinct will win out.
With that, I'll quickly check my work email and check up on my coworker who hadn't realized I was taking a couple of weeks off, make sure I have correct directions to this place which is pretty far off the beaten path, and enjoy 4 1/2 days to myself!