Apparently in the corporate world, it is common practice to send the high level executives on fancy trips called “Retreats”. Well, early on as the moms in our homeschool co-op got together to plan the year an idea was floated that we should have our own Retreat. As all of us function as C-level executives in our respective organizations, it was unanimously approved as a brilliant idea. One mom knew a guy who had a place and it was put on the calendar.
In August, February is comfortably far off in the future. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go on a ladies weekend getaway. I’ve never needed or been big into “Girl’s night out” things. The only time I’ve done trips without my family was to visit other family. A part of me was hoping my surgery would have provided an excellent excuse for begging out. To be clear, it’s not that I don’t like the other moms in the group. On the contrary, they are delightful. It’s just a bit outside my comfort zone on a couple of different fronts and that made the whole proposition complicated.

In the end, I went and I’m so glad I did. The cabin was beautiful, spending a day in a cute little boutique filled town in Western North Carolina was chill and relaxing (even if window shopping forces me to reduce my normal walking speed by 83%), and the discussions were fascinating and illuminating. I finished the picture I was working on for my new journal/planner I’ll start with the new school year and I learned a new card game my family loves. Not to mention the random animal skull I found and put on our nature shelf. Stepping outside the comfort zone is something I very rarely regret.

I do know it’s not something I want to do every month. I also know that every year is different and I’m not sure what the future is going to mean for our involvement with these ladies and their families. But at least now I know what all the fuss is about “Retreats” and the hype is definitely justified.