SoCS: Spit it Out and Choose Peace, plus Photos from Trinity Retreat Center

JoAnna

Sep 2

Today's Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: "chews/choose." Use one, use 'em both, use 'em any way you'd like. Bonus points if you get 'em both in. Have fun!

We choose what to focus on, what thoughts to entertain. Do we choose to feed our hopes or our fears? Do we really choose? Sometimes it feels like thoughts choose us. We might find ourselves chewing on something we need to spit out.

A social drinker, a heavy drinker, and an alcoholic walk into a bar filled with flies. ( IDK. Maybe someone left the door open.) Each guy had a glass of liquor in front of him, and each glass also contained a fly. The social drinker saw the fly and pushed the glass away. The heavy drinker took out the fly, flicked it away, and drank the liquor. The alcoholic picked up the fly, held it over the glass, and said, "Spit it out! Spit it out!"

(I heard that from a successfully recovering alcoholic.)

Marley picks up random things on our walks. Usually, I can get him to "drop it!" He also chews on his skin. He's itchy, but I've never seen even a single flea on him. He eats limited ingredient dogfood with salmon and sweet potato, a probiotic, omega 3, and gets baths at least once a month. I don't know what else to do. It's better in the winter, so the vet thinks his allergies are seasonal. Every now and then I give him a benadryl or an apoquel, but I don't want the risks associated. Thank God autumn is coming.

The weather has been temporarily cooler since the tropical storm came through Wednesday night. The storm wasn't that bad here, but we lost electricity for 12 hours and internet/TV for at least 15 hours since the line snapped. I don't like how much I missed having internet.

Whenever possible, I want to choose peace. I want to choose to want what I have and be thankful.

Last weekend, we went on an overnight retreat with our church to Trinity Center a couple of hours away. It was the first time I've left Marley with someone other than family since my daughter moved to the hills. He spent the day at doggie daycare and the new pet sitter picked him up and spent the night with him and Mama Cat. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was a big step for me.

David and I enjoyed the beach and then I swam in the pool at the retreat center. After dinner, we went back to the beach to see the moon. With all that outdoor time, and a little group game time and socializing in the evening, I was tired by the next day. The retreat was not very structured for which I am thankful. We chose to leave a little early and skip lunch at the center to make our way home.

Here are some pictures from Trinity Episcopal Retreat Center, a peaceful place on the Carolina Coast between the ocean and the sound. To get to the beach, we take a tunnel that goes under the road. I noticed in other places before we got to Trinity, someone was waving an orange flag as his group crossed the road. These flags were available on each side of the road for people to carry and wave when they crossed to alert drivers. What a great idea!

I love that Trinity Center built their decks AROUND the trees. More on that in a future Tree Love post.