We're back...

We have had essentially three days of no email, no phone, no internet. Man, was it weird!! It didn't take us very long to relax, though.

Saturday evening (before our retreat officially began) Roger and I went out on a "real" date. Our first date since Charlotte had passed. We went out to dinner and then went to see Avatar in Imax 3-D. Since the 7 PM show we intended to see was sold out, we hung around Barnes and Noble and Target until we made our way to the movie. The movie was wonderful! We had a really good evening out.

Since we didn't make it home from the movie till almost 2 AM, we took our time getting things going on Sunday. We left the house at about noon and set out towards Nelson County. We meandered and stopped at a few wineries along the way, arriving at Bryan's Oasis at about 5 PM.

Don't know if we've posted about this yet, but Bryan's Oasis is a 2 bedroom cottage in the middle of the George Washington National Forest. The Graeser family started this retreat a few years ago in honor of their 21-year old son Bryan who died from cancer. They work in partnership with Noah's Children to make this possible for grieving parents.

We were free to do as we pleased while we were there while having meals cooked for us and a roaring fire kept going in the wood stove. It was peaceful and relaxing. On Monday, we took a scenic drive around the area and Roger actually "got his line wet", doing a little fishing. I did a lot of reading and relaxing.

This afternoon, it was back to reality. Once we got to I-64 we finally had our email and phone access back. Fortunately, there were no emergencies and only a few emails to attend to. Now the real work begins. I think we are both ready to begin jumping back into work and "real life". We're going to try to keep our control and go in baby steps!

Seems like plans are coming together for the Memorial Service. The first of the family will start to arrive tomorrow and more will be coming in over the next few days.