This year's East Coast CL vacation took place at a new place, Greek Peak on the Finger Lakes of Upstate New York. It was a 6-hour drive for those of us from Boston, so in the beginning I wasn't too thrilled about that. And yet, I couldn't wait for the vacation- such a privileged time as Giussani always said—I longed to experience and learn how to live a different life! As we were driving up to Greek Peak, a friend texted: "don't worry the drive is worth it. We are in a beautiful place." My friend was right—the hotel was very nice; perfect to accommodate all of us (those who have kids and those who don't with nice common areas, water park, pool, fire pit, etc). With a group of friends, Rich led the vacation with an invitation to adhere, to look and to experience these days filled with the beauty of being together, and mercy of the One who calls us together.

The first morning of the vacation began with thunder and rain but as soon as we said Morning Prayer and were ready to play games, the sky cleared up and the sun shined on us for the entire day. The theme of the games was the US elections. Children and adults both had lots of fun! That afternoon we had free time and families and friends gathered to spend the afternoon together. That night our friend Monica gave a presentation on Les Miserable, sharing several aspects of the movie/novel that struck her. I was moved by Jean Val Jean's story because his whole life changes after being treated with superabundant mercy. To parallel Monica's presentation, the choir of friends, led by our maestro Chris, performed songs from the musical—it was magical! I felt as if I was on Broadway! Where did all this talent come from? Definitely from each singer's passion! That night I discovered again that truly I am made for beauty!

Sunday morning, accompanied by a few drops of rain, we embarked on a hike at Buttermilk Falls, ending with lunch in a green field, under the rain. Then suddenly, we started singing together under the rain—it was a beautiful moment because even if the weather wasn't ideal, we were happy, as was expressed vividly in our singing together! After dinner the children sang around the bon fire and made marshmallows before going to sleep. Sunday night our friend Stephanie from the New Bedford community introduced us to the Russian film, The Island—the story of a monk and his life lived with mercy. On Monday morning we woke up to a gorgeous day so we played games in the nearby fields of the hotel filled with yellow country flowers. The afternoon was free but filled with various proposals: Gabriele prepared games for the kids at the pond, Dave guided a walk to see fossils, Benedetto and Bencio took some kids fishing, and Anujeet led an amicable discussion on politics. The last night was filled with singing and games.

I was particularly moved by Naomi and Lisa's singing with the children on the final night. We finished off the vacation with a very simple Assembly, filled with intervention after intervention about what had happened in those days together. Rich concluded the vacation full of gratitude for this Year of Mercy, noting that, “waiting for Him day and night I see that things take shape without my doing.”

This was my experience as well—one who was transformed by Him, learning a new way of loving and of staying with the people around me. My husband and I were so full of the beauty of being together on the family vacation that we decided to extend our trip and go on vacation with another family to Niagara Falls and Toronto. We returned home carrying everything with us and expecting that all of life change, as we saw promised on the CL vacation.