Mama Retreat!

What a wonderful way to refresh!  I am so thankful some of my Second Time Mama gals decided to do this.  

The retreat was held be What About Mama’s at a shared workspace called ModernWell near Cedar Lake. 

Saturday morning, Joel dropped the kids off at his parents so he could go play pickleball and I headed down to Caribou and met Margaret to chat over some coffee before the event started.  We sat by the fire in the Caribou and enjoyed catching up.  Then we headed over for the welcome.  We drank more coffee and talked to the gals I knew and some we didn’t.  

A therapist had us start off the morning by doing an ice breaker with someone we didn’t know.  We had to spend 2 minutes introducing ourself to the other person by telling them how we are kicking ass at life right now.  Then we joined another group of 2 and introduced the other person to the group.  It was definitely one of those awkward icebreakers, but it was a good way to start off the event.  The therapist talked for a bit about talking to ourselves nicer and being more loving of ourselves and that everything that we’re doing for our kids was the right thing. The talk was fine.  I think it was a little fluffy with less actions and seemed a little.. privileged? IDK what the word is, but it was fine. 

After that talk, we had an hour of yoga.  That was great! An hour is a little long to do yoga, but I think it did help that I knew I didn’t have anything else to be doing at that moment since I was there for the day with no work or kids or anything to do.  

We then had lunch, a pretty good boxed lunch actually! From Kowalski’s, I’m hard to please… but it was good.

After lunch, we broke out into groups to do different activities: nature walk, craft, workshop on setting boundaries.  I did the nature walk first and it really was a perfect day for it.  We walked a little over a mile.  We got back and I had my optional massage.  Wow, it was a great massage! The woman did the massage out of her van, which sounded super creepy at first but was actually really slick.  It was a shoulder and neck massage and she was not afraid of using pressure!

I came back in after the massage and joined in on a different group that was just finishing up the craft – it was a sugar scrub of sorts, not my thing, so I was okay skipping it.  We headed downstairs for the small group chat with the therapist that kicked us off.  I had different expectations for that talk, so might have been a little disappointed that it ended up being us just sort of chatting about stuff going on and how to work through it.  — which is great! I just read it as a boundaries setting exercise and it’s as not what I got out of it.  Although – got some great tips: some things around the house, like folding laundry, post on next door and see if a high school kid will come over and fold it or what not for like $15 an hour.  Try to find things like that around the house for high schoolers to do and post on Nextdoor… might have to try that.  Also, to test out a babysitter – have someone come and hang out with the kids at the house while you’re there and then you can get stuff done around the house but be there if they need you.  It helps you get a sense of if you trust the person, etc. in a safe environment.

After the chat, we did a meditation with the woman who led yoga.  She definitely has the calm, perfect voice for that sort of stuff and I actually was able to just chill for about 5 minutes of it!

We had little snacks and wine after that to end the retreat and then a group of us headed over to Punch Bowl Social for an optional dinner.  I had never been, but the place was so big it didn’t seem to crowded… although it was like 5pm on a Saturday so us old moms were probably out before everyone was even done getting ready for the night. There was a table of some young peeps next to us that definitely kept us awkwardly entertained.

After dinner, a subset of us headed over to a hotel nearby to have a night in.  I had a room to myself and had all intentions of meeting the group for a drink upstairs on the rooftop bar, but once I snuggled into bed, that was it.  I talked to Joel a bit, then read my kindle for a while before shutting the lights off around 8:30 and sleeping all the way until 5:30.  I actually woke up a little bummed because I expected to be super refreshed… unfortunately, I’m still tired.  Seems like it might take more than one night to make up for 4+ months of fragmented, short sleep.

I brewed myself a cup of coffee, blogged, and then headed out for a long run.  I was out the door before 6:30.   It was dark and chilly, so I was thankful I grabbed a long sleeve last minute.  I made it over to Cedar Lake in time for the sunrise and then rounded Isles, a little jaunt on the Greenways, then back to Cedar to head to Caribou and Brueggers for a quick breakfast.  I FaceTimed Hailey – they were over and Joel’s parents already – and walked back to the hotel for a shower and to enjoy a little more peace and quiet before heading home.

I’m so thankful that Joel hung out with the kids and encouraged me to do this.  It was very, very needed.  I love the kids and our family so much, but sometimes you don’t realize how much tension you’re carrying just from everything that has been going on in the last couple of years.  I am excited to get home to snuggle the kiddos, knowing I’ll get to deal with the tantrums today too – but I feel like getting a 24 hour break from it has allowed me to be more ready 🙂