Summer of 2019 convent stay rundown...

"Salve Regina" is basically
the "Notice me, senpai!"
portion of the rosary, directed at
the Virgin Mary.

I just got back from the convent getaway, where I spent two nights with two friends in the guest house.  Both friends reported having a good time, for their own (very different) reasons, as did I, of course.  At least one would like to return again, possibly even before the end of the year.  The atmosphere is clean, quiet, serene, and there's a real sense of goodness permeating the premises.  The Sisters are really nice ladies, and the food is very good, including some stuffing that was absolutely divine today for a turkey dinner style lunch.  The floors of the bathrooms are so spotless that I wasn't afraid to go barefoot in them in the middle of the night when I had to use the facilities.  I walked the labyrinth, went to two services (including the Eucharist), would have attended other services but I was suddenly coming down with a sore throat so I wanted to preserve my voice.  I had to suck on some Ricolas one friend happened to have with him until I could get home and relieve my throat with other treatments.  It sucked that putting in extra shifts at work led to this - I know I caught it from my job.  Sigh - this was my one planned little getaway for the summer, and it was (only slightly) spoiled by feeling rough with a bug.

This will likely be something that I do once, if not twice a year to feel rejuvenated - it's so quiet there that you could hear a pin drop.  Again, if anyone is expecting a 'Sister Act' kind of convent scenario with penguin ladies and old world church charm, they will be disappointed, but it's still pretty legit.  There are some rules to follow but they're quite easy, and Anglicanism has been pretty progressive lately, in many churches, so one friend and I felt at ease to dress alternatively, as we do, and the Sisters just smiled at us.

BTW, I ultimately decided against it, but I had a phase where I was tempted to go on 'Christian Mingle' as Sister Penance for the lulz and see what came of it.  I came to expect a bunch of tattooed, just-outta-prison type Catholic bros posing in front of black Corvettes, hitting on the latex nun, only to turn on me and call me a slut or something if I were to reject or ignore their advances.  Or perhaps some sad, lonely Protestant dudes with shitty values and shittier grammar would desperately try to contact me, not knowing when to stop.  I think that site is uber conservative anyway... all the liberal Christians are probably on OkCupid.  Blegh, to hell with online dating.  This would have just been something to do for fun, but I am kind of beyond that time in my life where a joke profile is my idea of a riveting thing to engage in on the web.  It's a rather juvenile idea, now that I think of it.

-Saraƒin