The Sabbatical Sisters

A week ago Friday, Paul Rooker and Cathy Allen, one of the Sabbatical Sisters, got married in the Pecos National Historical Park outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Sabbatical Sisters and many other friends shared in the weekend of festivities. Several former attendees of our retreats were there as well.

If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a sisterhood to create a wedding. The Sisters, and other friends helped pack “welcome bags” for the guests, many of whom were from across the US. They helped set the tables for the family dinner after the wedding and they came out to the Legal Tender Saloon to decorate for the party Saturday night.

The weekend included many aspects of our retreats: a morning at Ten Thousand Waves Spa for massages and hot tubs, journaling in the mornings, visits to the Flea Market and Farmers Market, and dancing!

Friday’s event was outdoors on a mesa and the weather was beautiful. The family and wedding party dinner was at Cathy’s house with drinks on the terraces and doors flung open. Ronald Roybal, Native American flautist, played for both events. Many of the women went to the spa Saturday morning, but some played golf, while others “helped the economy” with their shopping or horseback riding the day before.

Saturday night everyone met up at the Santa Fe Train Depot to take the 100-year-old train to Lamy. For an hour we drank and ate hors d’hoeuvres while traveling through the beautiful Galisteo Basin. There was a train robbery and hostage event, though because the robber had stunning blue eyes, there actually were a number of volunteers to be hostages!

When the train arrived in Lamy, the party was going full swing and moved to the Legal Tender Saloon, a historic saloon, now museum, from the west. Men and women bellied up to the 150-year-old bar for margueritas and beer. The band, UndisKovered, had everyone dancing, especially the grandchildren!  But the “eligible guys” veered for the poker room and played much of the night.

Governor and Mrs. Bill Richardson joined the wedding party and had a great time talking to everyone. And on Sunday, one of the the group, Letitia Chambers, held a brunch, with others, and gave us a great way to send off those going to the airport.