In our world, silence is disorienting, rare, sometimes impossible. Even on my beautiful farm, there is noise – trucks, motorcycles, tractors, birds, furnaces, wood stoves, appliances, computers. On the retreat, there was no noise. Even at meals with the other people, there was only the sound of knives and forks clanking against places. We sat for hours, walked for hours, melted deeper into ourselves. Creative things came up for me – stories, poems, photos, ideas. Maria and I held hands to connect and walked for hours into the deep and beautiful Vermont woods. This was our path, the only photo I took.