Retreat Time

I have not yet learned to schedule my life as a priest. When I was in school, there were built in vacations around the holidays and there were summers. Even when I worked in the summers, there was usually some time off at the beginning and end. In theatre my life was a series of sprints. Work 60-80 hours a week for 6-8 weeks and then be unemployed for a few weeks. The unemployment part was hard on the bank account, but I could always push myself very hard because eventually rest would come.

But priesthood is like a never ending marathon. I push and push, but I never get to the rest time. Like theatre, I only have one day off a week. I do have some vacation time, but this year I have it scheduled for later in the year. What I've learned is that I can't go 4 months with no break. I'm going to get better at this scheduling thing, but last week I squeezed out 3 days in which I could get away to the mountains to a little bed and breakfast in Crozet. The first day I slept all day, but the second day I was able to spend some time on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and then I met my college roommate, Kristi, for an afternoon chat. We haven't seen each other in over 5 years, so it was a real treat. Picture below.