It was back to Kentucky this year for some R&R. I did my first silent retreat last May and decided it was time for another one. A great opportunity to disconnect, recharge, evaluate, prioritize, and get back into focus. All the above happened, thankfully.
However, my trip to Kentucky was plagued with obstacles. So many in fact, I thought it was a sign from above I should stay put in NY. I decided to forge ahead and let's just say it was all a test of patience and trust.
It all started when storms around Ohio interfered with travel plans to Louisville. At 4:20, I found out my 3:30 flight was canceled, after an obvious delay. I rushed to the counter to get my travel plans sorted out and ended up on a 5:00 flight to Nashville. While that flight was delayed as well, I was able to rearrange all my original travel plans: car rental & hotel for a totally different city & state. Finally arriving on the flight, I prayed my luggage was traveling with me while listening to the pilot talk about "turbulence" and "storms" - - two of my least favorite words in any language. I was seated next to a man, around my mom's age, who thankfully kept me distracted for a majority of the flight with talking about his kids, his family, his work, and his bucket list. I managed to get some conversation out during the stress of the flight and wondering about my luggage. Once we touched down in Nashville, I received a message that my luggage was still in NY. Awesome. I got my rental car and found the nearest Target to get some essentials since everything, and I mean
everything, was in my luggage still at JFK. Now I know why people just do carry-ons.
And here's the next road block: my GPS landing me somewhere on a country road, no street lights, abandoned parking lot to some neighborhood park. Pitch black. I had never been so scared in my life. My GPS claimed to be at the Hermitage Hotel, but this was clearly not the lavish accommodations I was expecting! But that's when the deep breaths I learned in my meditation class came in handy. And then my mantra of "you've got this!!" started as I slowly made my way back on this winding country road with my high beams on and country music quietly playing on the radio while I was doing my mantra and hoping no deers popped in front of my car. What should have taken 14 minutes, took 45 minutes to get me to my hotel. And what my GPS couldn't find, my iPhone did find after the GPS battery died just shy of getting me on a highway. A splitting headache, starving, and cranky, I arrived in Nashville - - three hours away from where I should have been that night.
The next morning another road block: my luggage did not arrive when it was supposed to. Instead it arrived as I had to check out of the hotel in Nashville to make the 3 hour trek into Kentucky. Nashville, in case you didn't know, is on Central Standard Time. Where I had to be in Kentucky was Eastern. With a time zone against me, I slowly, but surely made my way into Kentucky. Having intentions on arriving at 2:00 for my retreat, I arrived at 5:00. If anyone needed some de-stressing at that point, it was me! I happily made my way to my humble accommodations, unpacked, and packed away my voice for 4 days.
When one can't talk, there's a lot of things to think about. All the things you want to say, all the things you never said, and then all the things you'll probably never say aloud to the person who should hear it. I did all of that in the rolling hills of that beautiful state. There was so much to let go of and so much to welcome so with each sunrise and sunset, that's all I did.
And of course I had some photos to snap! Here they are:
Some N'ville photos:
This view of the Nashville Capitol building from my most beautiful room at The
Hermitage Hotel made up, somewhat, for the obstacles to get there.
I'm beginning to think I am more "country to the core" than I ever thought possible.
Nashville is so awesome.
Retreat Photos:
Ever see a baby pinecone?!!! How awesome!
While I am very much a city girl, there's something much more appealing about the country to me. It is really an amazingly transformative place. It's a place you can be alone, but yet feel surrounded by so much at the same time. This trip made me ache for my own country retreat to have for the weekends. How nice it'd be to escape from concrete and streetlights in favor of green hills and starlight? Ahhh one day...
