Month: July 2025

Dancing With The Dolphins

Most of you know that I have a weird iteration of a spiritual retreat each year visiting Discovery Cove in Orlando.  Exploring all the park had to offer and swimming with their dolphins was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I had to talk myself into allowing myself to spend a great deal of money to experience the activity and I did not see myself repeating that expenditure.  Until I spent my first dolphin day there.

I have never been very good at “once-in-a-lifetime.”  When an experience delights me, I usually end up going back.  Discovery Cove was no different.  In fact, the pull to return was even greater than usual.  The sensation of immersing myself in exciting, yet relaxing water adventures all day in an uncrowded park, strolling beaches and private pathways, and eating a good deal of junk food is more seductive than I can describe.  I do not receive it at all like a theme park vibe- as much as I love theme parks.  From the very beginning, my solo time at Discovery Park felt like a sacred reflection day. As a result, I have been back almost every year.

In the past six or seven months, I have made some changes in my lifestyle.  In an effort to become healthier, I have added a few things to my normal routine. Some of the changes directly related to physical health.   I’ve increased my water intake. I 86ed the bag of Hershey kisses I kept in my dresser drawer in case of low blood sugar and replaced it with lifesavers- more effective in true emergencies and way less tempting to eat “just because.” I began tracking my food intake

These physical changes also wrap around mental health goals.   I am trying to reprogram my brain to disconnect the idea that the definition of diet success is weight loss and feeling deprived.   I am trying to replace that definition with the notion that dietary success is when my body feels good. I am also trying to be much less cruel to myself than I have always been.  I would not be as mean to anyone else on earth as I am to myself.  I started dancing to increase the joy in my life.  I have been walking steps for years and it is good for me physically, but 15-20 minutes a day of dancing like a madwoman to upbeat or spiritually nourishing songs provides a helping of dopamine that walking steps never did.  I took my walking outside whenever the weather allowed.  I’ve been able to increase the dopamine hit in that way, also.  There are some truly beautiful and uplifting places to walk close to my house.  At least there were before summer hit and “outside” began to feel like Satan’s armpit.

I also began building a monthly retreat day into my schedule.  I mark my calendar with one day that I will commit to nothing other than my spiritual and mental health. It is a regular day for God and me to nurture our relationship.  It is a regular day for God and me to tinker with my internal workings to bring me closer to being the person He created me to be. I spend time on spiritual devotions, reading, journaling, and praying.  I may go for a walk outside.  I may dance. I may schedule a message or an appointment with my life coach.  The idea is to stop the spinning of busyness in my life- and in the stopping, to reflect, refresh, and reset. 

All of these changes are bearing fruit.  The results may not appear as dramatic or comfortable as I would like, but I can feel them powerfully. 

I am giving all this background and explanation to set the stage for this year’s dolphin day.  Spoiler alert: It was fantastic.  It always has been, but this year was special.  I think this year was better than any of the other years…and I think that is because I ambetter than I was in any of the other years.  Because of the changes I have made, I was more able to receive the benefits of the experience.  I started the day not eating food I did not want.  I journaled for a while, letting myself become more intentional about what I wanted from my retreat time.  I prayed.  I watched the flamingos stretch and neck with each other.  I found a private spot at the back of the park and danced for half an hour, my ear buds filling my soul with John Michael Talbot.  I enjoyed some time swimming with sting rays in the coral reef.  I cooed over a tiny armadillo.  I sunk into the bathtub-warm water at the freshwater oasis, watching little marmosets chase each other across their little island in the middle. I sat on a bench in the shade and read my devotional.  I rode the lazy river to my “not-so-secret” cavern.  It is hidden in plain sight, but I seem to be the only one who hangs out there, accompanied only by God and my own thoughts. I met a silly anteater. I ate a piece of chocolate cake, a small soft pretzel, and two small squares of pizza (for protein!) but did not eat just because it was there.  I didn’t compete with myself to see how much activity I could cram into my eight hours. I went where the spirit led me. I spent no extra money. 

I left tired but with renewed physical, emotional, and spiritual energy.  It was an immensely satisfying feeling.  It reminded me that emotional struggles do not necessarily equal “catastrophes.”   I came to Discovery Cove this year on the heels of a vacation that proved to be wonderful in many ways, but also unsettling.  I felt overwhelmed and flooded by emotions.  My dolphin day showed me that I am much more resilient than I know. 

A retreat can be any opportunity to reset and grow.  And a retreat should NEVER be a “once-in-a-lifetime experience!”

What do you do to refresh and reset?  Please leave a comment to share your perspective.  In the alternative, you can email me at terriretirement@gmail.com. 

Have a refreshing day!

Terri/Dorry 😊

I’ve Been Mugged

The other day, I went to the bathroom. The weather was perfectly fine when I closed the door. At some point, the skies shook, the thunder bellowed angrily, and monolithic rain curtains lashed down on the roof of my house. By the time I finished in the bathroom, the skies had cleared, and, except for some wet patios, one would never know there had been a thunderstorm of Biblical proportions. This would suggest one of two possible explanations. Either there is something very wrong with my GI system or it is summer, and I live in Florida. Thankfully (I guess,) it is summer, and I live in Florida.

My least favorite season in Florida has arrived…. Summer- or, as I like to call it, Sweat Season. The heat, humidity, and heaviness of the atmosphere has reached the  unbearable stage for me. The calendar tells me that summer is just barely a week old and I am over it already. At this time of year, the mere act of drawing breath feels like an elite athlete’s workout.

I might need to order Gatorade by the case if I decide to actually change my clothes. It is so muggy and viscous, clothes stick to my skin in a most unappealing way. Peeling off bike shorts feels like peeling off skin. It is disgusting to undress, but it is even more disgusting to remain in the same clothes for more than six hours. When we do our early morning yardwork on Saturday mornings, I make my own mud. My friend Kathleen argues that sweating is good for you. I do not know if that is true. Drowning in my own bodily fluids sounds like a definite health hazard to me… to say nothing of my mental health.

Another difficulty with the summer here is the sheer impossibility of planning anything. Every statement of intent is followed closely by the fearful phrase “weather permitting.”  You see, during the summer, it can rain any and every day. It often does. People told us during our first summer that the key is not to pay too much attention to those 98% chance of rain predictions that span across the entirety of the weather.com 10-day forecasts. They tell you that it only rains for 10 or 15 minutes at 4:00pm. It’s easy, they tell newbies, to work around these little summer showers. Sometimes all that is true. Sometimes, Noah calls demanding his flood back. I have been caught driving when I have to pull over to the side of the road for half an hour, just waiting for the rain to decrease enough to allow me to see if I am indeed still on the road or if I veered off into a river.  One time, as I made my way from the grocery store to the car, my shoes got so wet, they dyed my feet blue. I looked like a smurf from the ankles down for weeks.

Then there are the hurricanes. I always wanted to live at the beach, but we wisely decided to move to the exact middle of the state, 90 minutes from a beach in any direction because we were concerned that the cardboard box we would be living in after the first hurricane season would not survive a second.  In the center of the state, we are honestly fairly safe- at least as far as Florida goes. In the ten summers we have been here, we have experienced three storms that caused some damage close to us. Three, of course, is plenty. We have been lucky that we have suffered only the most minor damage. The bigger issue is the hype that accompanies any hurricane that could potentially impact any area within the broadcast range of the local television stations. For days before and during, everyone from the Florida Keys to Jacksonville is treated to predictions of soggy Armageddon. While this is going on, I cling mightily to my logical brain which knows the odds that we will experience a hurricane disaster are slim. However, I am an extremely suggestible person and the panic that I push to the bottom of my gut never stays completely subdued in the face of constant warnings of catastrophe.

I honestly do not know what possessed anyone to settle Florida in the early days of New World exploration. A Spanish conquistador named Pedro Menedez de Aviles founded the city of St. Augustine, Florida in 1565, making it the oldest city in the United States. My question is why, in a world some 350 years before air conditioning, would Senor Menendez do Aviles have wanted to conquista it in the first place? There is only so much good a sea breeze can do.

You might wonder, with all this weather whining, why I live in Florida. Of course I researched weather patterns, and I even spent time in Florida during the summer. Of course, I knew that the summers are hot, muggy, and tempestuous. Knowing it and living it or not the same thing. Also, I love my life in Florida. I love my little house. I love my friends. I love the cost of living. I love my church. I love the scenery. I love the available activities. Summer sog is the cost of admission. That does not mean I have to like it.

I typically count summer in Florida as nineteen weeks- from the last week of May through the last week of September. Summer weather can and does extend beyond September, but even I cannot justify calling October “summer.” We are currently in week six. That leaves me with almost two-thirds of Sweat Season left to go for this year. Pray for me. And send popsicles!

How do you feel about summer? Please share your perspective by leaving a comment.  In the alternative, you can email me at terriretirement@gmail.com.

Be cool!

Terri/Dorry 😊