I’ve never worked for a school, business or organization that ever sprung for a retreat until now. Of course, the morning consisted of a series of workshops, which actually flowed by rather quickly. The first one was a 4-minute powerpoint presentation by a representative from each of the programs in our coalition.The assistant program director with whom I work went first and ended exactly at the 4-minute mark with the video that I successfully embedded.
Yet my second favorite presenter passed around a plastic bag, essentially representing “a mixed bag of tricks.” She invited us to pick out whatever we wanted. I liberated a small canister of hot pink clay and immediately started rolling it in my palms to soften it up. As I worked the clay over, I reminisced about the days when I taught preschool and then molded the clay into a frog’s head just like I used to do back in the day.
Then the executive director reviewed employee survey feedback about how the organization was doing 6 months after the merger. Most of the cherry-picked responses were positive, including one of my quotes.
Next, a motivation expert had us go through several motivation driver cards and methodically pick out six of them. Once we were done, he asked us to kick out one card, then order the remaining five with the most important card on top. “Autonomy” topped my list since it represented of the totality of everything I want out of life. The rest fleshed out my autonomous nature.
Ending exactly on time, we all made haste to a marina on Lake Travis–about an hour away. Totally worth it! This would be the closest to a beach I’d see this summer.
I’m glad that in my middle-agehood, I wear sensible shoes since the incline was no joke with trip-enhancing steep steps and loose gravel.
Our party boat was a double decker.
Once the boat started moving and we finished eating, most of us went above deck.
I’d never been out on Lake Travis before. Friday was the only day predicted to rain–only 20%. Fortunately for us, the odds were in our favor.
This past Independence Day, I discovered the hard way I didn’t have a bee sting allergy. I blogged about how I still retained a healthy respect for bees and would continue using gentle, nonaggressive tactics to deal with them.
Since I put that out into the universe, I was not surprised when a coworker warned me I had a bee crawling on my neck. I passed her my phone so she could take a picture. As she took pictures, she marveled at how calm I was, all the while panicking I’d be stung. The bee traveled along my neck, inches above my recent bee sting, behind and around my ear, which tickled, but I resisted.
By this time, another coworker who sat on my right saw the bee walking along my scalp then upon my locks. I handed him my phone. At this point, I asked him to blow on the bee in order to get rid of it.
Apparently the bee had a good toe hold into my locks. Moments later, the bee flew away, which was the best scenario since I’d thought it would drown once I slid into the lake.
We docked in a beautiful area, but had to wait a few tantalizing minutes before the slide was ready.
This picture does not exaggerate the steepness of the slide. I accelerated into the lake as if on a roller coaster. I’d slid down with a noodle around my shoulders, which served me well in the lake. Although I can swim, floating was so much better.
Several coworkers chose to float and drink. We still got our exercise, thanks to the current. Since we all drifted out at the same rate, we didn’t notice how far we’d floated away from the boat until we looked.Everyone noted how tiring swimming was. Funny how kids never comment on such things! I was happy to continue my Friday tradition of wearing my bathing suit under my regular clothes. Yet, we could have left an hour sooner since I truly jonesed for a nap. The smile shone here was absolutely genuine–we were headed back ashore.