Yesterday was spent in the Emergency Room in South Miami Hospital where I was given many tests and all the results were given within hours! It was amazing and I did nothing except lie on a rolling bed that went from x-rays to cat-scan with a few things like blood work and EKGs thrown in - so much of this was new for me as I am healthy but seemed to have gotten an infection that has given me a hard time for the past ten days and so I am now taking three kinds of medicine to get rid of this. What I am most grateful for is that one of my community took me and stayed with me and now I will get better.
One of the highlights of my trip was the retreat at Villa Maria del Mar in Santa Cruz, California. The Sisters of the Holy Names run this retreat house on the ocean; it used to be $25 a day for Religious, but now is more like all retreat houses in charging more but they still have wonderful meals and I love the little prayer room facing the ocean where I can listen to the surf. I used to go to the beach every afternoon, but this year it was a bit cool and I did not get down there - it was a wonderful seven days and nights of silence. The house was full but everyone kept the silence. I was making my retreat in private but the Jesuit preaching twice a day for the others has a Liturgy each day before lunch that I loved. It is a sacred place for me and I have been going there almost every summer for the past twenty years.
After the retreat, I had good visits with all my friends at Oakwood. I could not get around to see all 50 of them individually, but it is always a joy to see how holy and contented our Sisters are in the retirement home.
I stayed with one of our communities in Redwood City who are so hospitable and I love being with them. Then I was able to visit the community at the University of San Diego for a few days to see friends and then went to Coronado to visit with my sister and her husband and my brother flew in for the last three days of the week. More about that last week tomorrow. It just is a grace to see friends in the summer! One of my friends drove down from Los Angeles so we were able to have Mass, lunch and dinner together one day and that was a real joy to see her.