Ah! To be all alone in a little cell
with nobody near me;
beloved that pilgrimage before the last pilgrimage to death.
Singing the passing hours to cloudy Heaven;
Feeding upon dry bread and water from the cold spring.
That will be an end to evil when I am alone
in a lovely little corner among tombs
far from the houses of the great.
Ah! To be all alone in a little cell,
to be alone,
all alone:
Alone I came into the world
alone I shall go from it.

That's what some monk wrote somewhere and then Samuel Barber found it and included it in a goooooorrrrrgeous cycle of songs titled, "The Hermit Songs." But that's only the introduction.

Early tomorrow morning I leave for San Antonio, Texas to participate in a Franciscan Retreat at Covenant Baptist Church. I learned about it from reallivepreacher.com. I've never really been on a religious retreat before. I've been on musical retreats and musical theater retreats and performance workshop retreats and, of course, Hawaiian retreats and family retreats. Sometimes, I spend so much time at church, that might be considered a religious retreat. Any time I spend away from the everyday doing something I love, I consider a retreat.

I'm really excited about this.