Unpacking & Repacking

Greetings,

I happy to say that I've made it home to the Monastery. Sr. Julie helped me unpack the car and tote my bits and pieces up to my bedroom; where it sat for the night. I was just too tired to open the boxes and suitcases. Today, I tackled the process of unpacking and reorganizing. I brought back many of my textbooks from university and a few trinkets from my time in the big city, and all needed to find a place.

This morning, I began to wish I had thought ahead a bit farther last night. I was up with my 5:45 alarm, and quickly realized that I had left the items I needed to prepare for the new day and my clothes for the day in the suitcases and boxes out in the hall. Thankfully, the other sisters on my 'wing' were still in their rooms as I rummaged around to find the necessities of life : )

It was more than nice to be home for Vespers last night...it was comforting, welcoming...the return to our Benedictine prayer is hard to explain (and I never thought I would be as passionate about it as I am). I knew I was home when I heard our voices together again. I must admit, I was a little less poetic feeling this morning at 6:30; there are night owl genes in my family and only a rare few are morning people. However, I was present and happy to be there; even if I wasn't fully awake!

Today, I completed my unpacking. Now, I can begin the list to repack for Rome! I leave in just 6 days for a month of Benedictine study with approximately 25 other sisters! There will be three of us from my house and the others (all English speaking) are traveling from all over the world. First, I must plan for a total of 5 weeks of travel out of one 21 inch suitcase and one carry on. This can be done and I've received all sorts of helpful advice from other sisters who have participated in the program in the past. The 'homework' I have assigned myself this weekend is to practice packing and then carrying the suitcase about for a while to see if I can pull it on and off the train once we're on the go!

Blessings,