I'm ALIVE!!

I wasn't ghosting you, I promise.

Dear Kindred Spirit,

Goodness, I am sorry that I haven’t written to you in a long time. I was away for most of the month of June doing what I love the most: Traveling. I visited 7 countries in 4 weeks and I could have kept going if it weren’t for, you know, reality!

In a nutshell, here is what I was up to:

As a 50th birthday gift to me, my dad and stepmom treated my husband and I to a cruise in the Adriatic Sea. We started in Venice, Italy, visited Croatia, Montenegro, Greece, and ended in Istanbul, Turkey. I have to say, this trip changed me. I’m still processing, to be honest. You’ll hear more later. Let me know if you would like to see a little video walk through of my Travel Journal! It was so much fun to fill out along the way and the prompts really fueled some deep thought about what I was experiencing.

Ephesus, Greece was astonishing. This place was SO OLD that it was completely covered by earth until they began excavations in the 1800s.

Then, my husband and I parted ways and I continued on to Pleshey, England for the final chapter of my training to be an Ignatian Spiritual Director. It was a beautiful weekend with beautiful people talking about beautiful things! I’m excited to tell you that I am now able to lead folks through the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. (You may remember that I started this training a year ago and wrote about it here.)

The end of a beautiful journey… and the beginning of a new one!

THEN, I rejoined my dad and stepmom in Austria, where my son also joined us. My stepmom and my son were apart of a choir that sang, among other works, Mozart’s Requiem in Vienna and Salzburg. Cathedrals, museums, music, schnitzel, and adventure. It was a dream.

Here’s a tiny sample of the music. About halfway, I zoomed in on my son.

Coming home was (as it always is) bittersweet. The last couple of trips that I have taken, I find this practice by Scott Ericson to be super helpful for my reentry.

Now that I’m home and fairly settled, I am working on a new Kindred Journal: July Edition for you. It will be in your inbox on Monday. Expect a guided journaling video with gentle movement, a Lectio Divina -inspired journaling practice for you to enjoy on your own, and something extra that I’m excited to share with you.

I hope you have a lovely week. Stay cool.

Love,

Melissa