The Weekender

Thursday, November 24, 2005

ENGAGED ENCOUNTER WEEKEND

As some of you know, Awsome and I are getting married in a Catholic Church. And for most churches, they request for you to go through marriage preparation classes. Oh yeah, I spoke of this in my last post. DUH. Anyways, last weekend we finally went. It was held at San Damiano Retreat House in Danville. This place is BEAUTIFUL, up in the hills of Danville.

We arrived Friday evening and found our rooms, that's plural, seperate rooms w/ a roommate. Met our roommates, and by the way, my roommate has the same wedding date as me! HOW FUNNY IS THAT! Too weird. Our retreat was going to be led by 2 couples who have been married 38+ years and Father Tom. Some of you know how emotional I can get. So when it came down to introducing myself and Awsome and what led me to him..can we just say my voice started to crack and tears just started running down my face. Good grief.... I told Awsome if we were to ever write our own vows and say them out loud, I don't think anyone would be able to understand what I'm saying or if i'd even be able to finish. hahahhaha

Anyways, if you've ever gone on a retreat before, there's alot of reflecting and writing. And I would suggest for you to bring along a Dr. Grip Fine Point pen if you ever go on a retreat. We were left to write w/ your regular paper-mate pen that made my hand cramp. I've never written this much since college.

So what was this retreat about? It's about you and your fiance. About what your marriage will entail. That it's not just about you exchanging vows and having a big party in the end. It's about communication, becoming one, sexual intimacy, becoming a family, forgiveness....etc.... I'm sure we've heard all of these words before, but it was nice to hear the couples stories and Father Tom's input and how Awsome and I relate and express these to each other.

I thank you Voodoo for encouraging us to do this over night retreat. If we were to do the once a week class or even the Sat & Sun 8am-5pm it would not be the same. I can see myself constantly looking at my watch waiting for the retreat to end, thinking of what we were going to do after the retreat. I don't believe we would have been there mentally. It was nice being away from your everyday things, no TV, no radios no computers.... It's just you and your fiance being together... I have to admit though, that Awsome and I were mentallyand physically exhausted, which was surprising because all we did was sit and right and talk to each other.

After the retreat was over, it was kind of sad to see everyone go, but Awsome and I got so much out of this retreat. We hope that in maybe 5-10 years to go to another retreat, but for married couples. It was soooooooooooooooooo worth it... and the food was good too!!!!!

posted by The Weekender @ 7:33 PM

3 Comments:

At 5:14 PM, MnM said…

hey weekender! glad to hear that the engaged encounter went well! ahhh...just another step closer to D-Day...if i'm not mistaken, those notebooks that you wrote in will come in handy for when times get rough. 'tis always good to look back at THAT weekend because emotions are so real and raw. in any case, glad you two enjoyed it!
At 4:01 PM, bernadette said…

cool! we were debating over the weekly classes (free) vs overnight retreat ($$). seems like the overnight was worth it, we may look into that. ;)
At 9:48 PM, neekoh said…

what? it's not just a party and a trip to Italy? Damn.