Week 28 2024

We leave for Utah tomorrow. My wife’s family built a cabin there in the mid-1970s, and we try to get back there once a year. I haven’t been since 2022 and am looking forward to the retreat. The cabin has no cell signal and no Wi-Fi, but it has a full connection with nature at a 10,000-foot elevation. While everyone below will be sweltering in 100-degree heat, it will be in the 60s on the mountain.

It’s one of my favorite places in the universe. I regroup there. I write in my journal, take in the silence, ponder reality, and take stock of who I am and what I need to change about myself. It seems that every time I leave the cabin, my phone has fewer apps, my journal pages are filled with ideas, and I have a renewed commitment to healthier attitudes. Retreats do that—they reset parts of our lives and change others. I’m ready for the refurbishment.