The last few days have been very chaotic.  We got done with our silent retreat on Sunday, October third, picked up our son and went to a 80th birthday party for my second Dad Arnold.  We had a wonderful time visiting with all of the family and eating.  About two hours into the visit I got deathly ill.  We had to leave for home, which was forty-five minutes away.  Getting home seemed like forever.  I took some medicine and started feeling better sooner than I usually did.

Monday, was the Feast of our Father St. Francis.  Tom and I just relaxed and kept silence for the day.  That evening we went to St. Mary's Basilica for a special Mass and a Italian Dinner.  Everything was wonderful and the Community was so much fun to be around.

We went to bed around 9:30.  At midnight I woke up feeling really sick again.  I had a very upset stomach and I had a fever.  I thought that I had gotten the flu.  I sat on my rocking chair from midnight until six o'clock Tuesday evening not being able to move at all and sleeping the whole time in that chair.  Boy, was I stiff by the time I was able to get up out of the chair.  Tom and our son Tommy were sick too.  They had the same symptoms that I had.  We slept all day.  Tom thinks that we got food poisoning at the party.  I'm not sure what to think.  I only know that I do not want to ever get that sick again.

In between sleeping though, I had time to think, pray and thank God for my wonderful experience at the silent retreat.  Being that I had never experienced that type of retreat before, I didn't find it to be so bad.  Once I got over my emotional state, I found myself to be very peaceful and happy with everyone and everything.

I hope this feeling never ends!