October 20 - 26, 2024
I spent all of this week in Colorado. I hung out with friends and family in Colorado Spring for the first half of the week, then I attended Splankna training in Denver for the last half of the week. It was fun and exciting- not in a roller coaster sort of way though. It was more like the excitement that comes from feeling like things are on track (even if I don’t quite know where that track is headed!)
Sunday, October 20th
Another morning for us ladies to hang out together. We headed out to Castle Rock, CO for lunch and some shopping. It was about an hour’s drive, so we had a quick bite to eat at Yolanda’s Tacos when we arrived, then strolled over to the Barnes Antiques & Specialty Shops. The Barnes is in the original 1905 Barn of the Douglas County Mercantile and holds a number of antique & specialty stores for local vendors.
All four of us (baby A. was hanging with us!) really enjoyed our time there, and we whiled away a couple hours there, heading back to Jackie’s only long enough for a quick refresh before heading to Jackie’s brother’s house for a family BBQ. This was the second time I’ve been to their house for a family gathering (I was there in December 2023 as a stopover on my drive from Cheney, WA to Tulsa, OK), so I already knew how friendly and welcoming they are. It was a nice afternoon of football, conversation and great food. It felt good to see the closeness of their tight-knit family, and to personally experience how they welcome friends and guests with open arms. We spent a couple hours there and left when it was close to A.’s bedtime.
Monday, October 21st
With Jeffery and Jackie at work for the day, Marcia and I set to work knocking out some projects and helping around their house. We hit the nearby T.J. Max and HomeGoods and Marcia put her creativity and organizational skills to use, making Jackie and Jeffery very happy and surprised when they returned from work today.
And, although I dragged my feet getting started, I completed my first workout under Jon‘s program late in the evening, hating every minute of it, but committed to getting a workout in before heading to bed.
Tuesday, October 22nd
A quiet, stay-in kind of day.
Wednesday, October 23rd
This morning, I bid Marcia adieu as I dropped her off at the airport for her return home.
Afterwards, I had the chance to catch up and visit with MacKenzie, my bestie Stephanie’s daughter.
Mac was fantastic about feeding my labyrinth addiction, and after I picked her up, we headed over to Colorado College so I could walk the Shove Memorial Chapel labyrinth
Afterwards, we went to First Christian Church to walk the labyrinth there. Mac pointed out that if you stand in the center and talk (or shout or sing or whatever), it amplifies the sound. 👂🏼📢
When I compared the pictures of this labyrinth and the one from just a little while ago, they looked almost identical in many ways- partly because both this labyrinth and the one at Colorado College each have a low wall encircling part of them.
I was thrilled to get in so many labyrinth walks, and our last labyrinth walk today was my favorite one of the three. It was at Benet Hill Monastery.
When we arrived, we were greeted by a friendly oblate, who gave us a map of the property and directed us towards the labyrinth. She encouraged us to experience other parts of the monastery, both outdoors and indoors.
In addition to the labyrinth on the grounds, there is also a Zen Garden, Stations of the Cross, a Stone Grotto, the Sacred Ute Prayer Trees and a Medicine Wheel. Indoors, there is a lovely library, two chapels and an oratory.
We made several stops while we were there- enjoying our time immensely at the labyrinth, then visiting the Medicine Wheel. Afterward, we drifted over to the Zen Garden and found one of the Sacred Ute trees. It was very peaceful and serene.
When we finally made our way back to the monastery building, we were shown around the accessible areas of monastery. The stained glass was beautiful and the gift shop sucked me in with their tasty baked goods.
It was a really nice way to spend the afternoon, and we celebrated by meeting up with Gage (Mac’s brother) at Josh & John’s for some ice cream.
One of the other highlights of the day was also the chance to reconnect with another old friend of mine- Jan Campbell. Jan (and her husband Steve) are not only Mac & Gage’s grandparents, but also the parents of a friend from high school, Derek Campbell. I will never forget how Jan & Steve also took me in and let me live with them for a few months in the summer of 1991, which was a pretty tumultuous time in my life.
It was good to be able to catch up with Jan- giving and getting the high level overview of our lives over the last 30+ years, though I was sad that Steve was away during my visit.
Thursday, October 24th
I woke up knowing I would have a full and busy day ahead of me. I missed saying goodbye to Jackie since she had already left for the day, but had a chance to say thank you to Jeffery for their hospitality, then hit the road, stopping to hit the Southeast Armed Services YMCA to get in my swim.
Afterwards, with some time to spare, I made a fun stop at a Little Free Library titled ‘Hagrid’s Hut‘ to get this cute photo.
Before leaving Colorado Springs, I met up with my friend Carra, who I last saw in December of last year. We met up again at Ai Sushi on Cinema Point for lunch, then spent a bit of time perusing a nearby bookstore for a bit before she had to head off to other commitments.
I ran a couple errands, then made the drive to Denver, where I checked into the Embassy Suites Downtown
Denver Convention Center. Tonight was the first night of Master Level Splankna training and I am super excited about everything I’ll be learning and able to use to help others in the future!
Friday, October 25th
It was a FULL day of Splankna training – we started right after breakfast, had a 2.5 hour break for lunch, ate dinner together and went right back to training and practice.
It was a pleasant surprise when they called a small group of us to the front to publicly award us our Advanced level Splankna certifications. It has been a stressful few months trying to meet the requirements — in fact, I didn’t even get final approval to attend Master level training until a couple days before training began, so I was really proud and excited to even be here!
Saturday, October 26th
Master level Splankna training is going well. It is a lot to take it and it has been intense, but I am enjoying learning all this new material. Helping people address unresolved emotional trauma and seeing destructive patterns of behavior end is work that changes lives for the better and I am here for it!
Today is the last full day – there’s just a 1/2 day of training tomorrow.
It’s been great getting to know more folks in the Splankna community and building new friendships, relationships and connections. I’m excited to incorporate these new parts of Splankna into my coaching!
