Trip to Kansas City December 2012 - Day Five and Return Home

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On Monday I drove up to Clyde Missouri to visit Sr. Paula at the Clyde Motherhouse of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.  Clyde is about an hour and forty-five minutes from Mom's place in Kansas City.  You head north past the airport and then St. Joseph and then head toward Maryville.  Once past Conception Abbey, you take County Road P which takes you to Clyde and actually only to Clyde.

Paula on the phone with Marilyn

I spent four hours visiting with Sr. Paula who has been facing some health issues lately and is plagued with low energy and feeling tired a lot.  She had just finished her daily exercise when i arrived and was a little more tired than usual.  However, long conversations about theology and the state of the Catholic church got her blood flowing and pressure up.  She was also helped by a phone conversation with Marilyn.  I had wanted to Skype but they don't have WiFi in the retirement center--Our lady of Rickenbach--and they certainly don't permit Skype on the one computer the residents have access to.  By the way, "Maria Rickenbach" is the Swiss monastery from which Clyde was founded in 1874 by Mother Anselma Felber.  Click here to see a map of the location of Maria Rickenbach.

Noon meal with the Sisters

I went to mass with the residents at 11:00 and then to dinner following.  Our lady of Rickenbach is a retirement community at the Motherhouse is basically a combination of independent living, assisted living, and nursing care.  Paula was actually the founding director and played a key role in the design of the building and it s programming.  over the years I have gotten to know several of the sisters, sometimes they are friends from my visits with Paula in San Diego or Tucson.

I returned to Kansas City and spent a fun evening with Mom watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase.  I left the next day and returned to Rochester although with some delays.  I did get the chance to capture some nice photos of downtown Chicago as we flew over the lake and back to the west to land.

This is my last trip of 2012.  There will be a 2013 edition of this blog with the first entry probably a trip to Califronia in late Janaury or early February.  Happy a wonderful Christmas everyone.