Father-son retreat

I’m going back to the future on this post, written on the 28th but dated the 26th. We’ve been busy recuperating from stuff: Selling a house, a weekend retreat, and selling a house.

The weekend was a father-son retreat in the Ardeche area of France. Son 2 had really wanted to go even though I knew there would be few people there, and I hate missing Sundays in Lausanne. But Son 2 prevailed, so on Friday afternoon both the Sons and I made the 4.5-hour drive to Ardeche to be with 3 other fathers and their sons.

Let’s rewind. The real reason I didn’t want to go is because I was afraid of confrontation. I was dreading the special one-on-one session (actually, one-on-two session) where the boys would give me my father evaluation. You know, the no holds barred, straight-from-the-heart, you’re-the-reason-I’m-a-serial-killer and why-didn’t-you-ever-teach-me-to-paraglide confrontation.

But if you know our boys, you know they are merciful, especially to their dad. The one-on-two’s were rich. The afternoon activity where we hiked alone and had a scavenger hunt was great, writing a prayer on the summit of the local mountain… and the Sunday worship unforgettable.

Children are a blessing. I know we can break their hearts at times, and they can break ours, but our Father knew what he was doing when he put us in a family and gave us love that covers a whole multitude of “stuff”.

Thanks for reading.