Retreat, CathSo Style

A few years ago, I became part of an incredible Facebook group of women from around the country (and now a few select international gals). We are ladies from all sorts of backgrounds who are trying to stay grounded in our faith while working our way through life. It started mostly as bloggers and people who do the Twitter thing (I still can't seem to jump on that bandwagon) looking to continue friendships and support each other in a more suitable space. And so a Facebook "sorority" group of sorts was born; "Cathsorority," or CathSo for short, has been going strong ever since.

I've been fortunate enough to meet and become great friends with a few of the girls in Colorado, going to weddings and baby showers and baptisms together, but for the most part, a good portion of the friends who have known me best for the past 3-4 years I still haven't met in person. 

We've had plenty of discussions about beaming ourselves to a big after-bedtime cocktail bar in the sky to hang out in person, and we've joked often about starting a commune, especially since at this point we could fill every community role necessary with all of our different degrees and strengths and talents. But alas, all the wishful thinking has been just that--wishful--since most of the occasional meet-ups have been limited to a few people in the same geographic area. 

Last year, though, one of our local Colorado sisters came up with the idea to make a girls' getaway happen for real: we would rent a cabin in the mountains, we would hang out together in person, we would have some (semi-) crazy fun, and focus on faith and sisterhood over glasses of wine and s'mores. 

Over the course of the year it evolved form a little idea into reality, and this past weekend we made it happen: a retreat, CathSo/Sisterhood Style!

Out of our lovely group of women, roughly half were from our original online group and the rest were more wonderful local ladies who we met throughout the course of the year. (To fit in comfortably with the life-filled theme, we had four infants accompanying their mamas, four pregnant women, and at least four Marquette monitors out of the bunch!) We began Friday night with pizza, a talk, and a little mixer to get the party started, with prizes based on best-dressed and most creative. The theme: Purple Mountain Majesties...because it's impossible to ignore the majestic beauty of the Rocky Mountains while on retreat in Estes Park, and also because there can never be enough purple in the world. [Unless it's paired with green on a big dinosaur].

Since purple has long been my go-to color, I was not lacking in options when shopping my closet, but sadly my Rocky Mountain Princess tiara (with real mountains!!!) was beat out by a Baby Gap pouff and the most hideously amazing lavendar 80s dress ever designed [how did I not get a picture of that one, Andrea?!]. 

Saturday was a very full but great (and surprisingly peaceful) day. Our first stop was St. Malo, the beautiful chapel John Paul II had visited during his time in Denver. Sadly, most of the grounds were destroyed in a devastating wildfire a few years ago, but they are working on rebuilding, and the chapel on the rock still stands. While we were there, one lovely lady gave a wonderful talk on sisterhood with the chapel and the mountains as the backdrop:

No filters here #becauseColorado

Then came a pleasant hike in the Lily Lake area, followed by time in downtown Estes Park taking in the sights, shopping, and enjoying lunch.

Some of the original CathSo gals.

Let me just tea nerd out on you for a moment to tell you, the little tea cafe called Moon Kats Tea Shoppe where my group ended up eating had some crazy awesome culinary creations that totally knocked it out of the park. I'm talking Earl Grey tea bread with lemon curd and clotted cream, Tea Cider (yes, tea steeped in apple cider) and the freakishly delightful sippable masterpiece I ordered called Orange Spiced Tabby--aka cinnamon tea steeped in frothy orange juice. You better believe that my tea game will be stepping it up a few notches in the future. If you ever find yourself in Estes Park, do yourself a favor and just wander on by sometime in the afternoon. Trust me.

Anywho, reeling myself back in...

Back at the cabin, some crockpot deliciousness was waiting for us, along with the wonderful priest who drove all the way out just so we could have mass in the comfort of our little lodge. He also offered reconciliation and adoration which was a real treat since most of us mamas with bebes have found that for some strange reason it's slightly difficult to fit those things into our schedules in the real world. That was easily the most restorative part of the weekend for me...a whole evening of guiltless peace and silence just to be fully, wholly present in the moment.

On the subject of being in the present, we chose the saint Jane Frances de Chantal as our designated patroness/role model/inspiration for the weekend. She was someone all of us ladies--from single to married to working to homeschooling--could relate to in different ways because she lived through it all. She was was a wife, a mother of four, a young widow, and a businesswoman (managing her husband's estate and then her in-laws' estate in a day and age where women weren't supposed to touch those things). She was always helping her community and grieved the loss of two of her babies and many family members before becoming a nun later in life. She focused on charitable work and influenced some pretty incredible decisions with local authorities to care for the sick and contribute all her convent's resources when a plague hit her region of the world. And she did it all with grace. At one point she said, "...we must live in the present moment, without forecast and without worry about ourselves, concerning either the future or the present." We adopted this wisdom as our motto for the weekend:

The whole weekend was the perfect balance of time for reflection and connection (at least for me, a self-proclaimed ambivert). It was so nice to connect with other ladies who had many of the same goals and who were struggling with a lot of the same conflicts, and who appreciated the same kind serious and snark that I do. We talked well into the night about all sorts of things, from the lightest of subjects to the deepest of thoughts [no Jack Handy required]. And I definitey lost a little sleep giggling and whispering animatedly with my roomates because it was way too easy to revert back to our 6th grade sleepover selves.

30 going on 13.

The matchmaking here starts young...

It struck me at some point that this was the first retreat I've gone on for myself since I've been in college/become a mom; it's been so long since I've taken that time away from the ceaseless to-do list so I could spend valuable time revisiting all the inner corners of my heart and soul. It challenged me to reach beyond my comfort level in some ways, re-examine some priorities, and get back in touch with the way I want to approach life. I enjoyed it all thoroughy. And it changed me deeply. So deeply that I came back and baked stuff. From scratch. For my family. (I know right? I should go on retreat like every day).

Garden fresh strawberry-rhubarb cobbler.
And I almost enjoyed making it. Who am I?

I'm so glad we [mostly my dear friend] figured out how to make it happen and put in all the hard work to pull it off. I'm so glad that I'm returning with deeper relationships with wonderful people who (as one friend put it) are actually real people behind that screen, not a bunch of creepers.

And I'm so glad I'll get to continue hanging out in person with so many of you. Thank you all for a lovely, spirit-filled getaway!

Planning team, minus one lovely mama who is busy snuggling her 2-week-old--as she should!