Key to Annual Women’s Retreat is Learning and Embracement of Diversity

Minneapolis, MN, February 28, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Research shows that women who nurture their relationships are happier and healthier. “A few shared… events seemed to render mothers and daughters happy in each other’s presence,” researcher Karen L. Fingerman states in a recent book. Since 1993, the women in a Minnesota family have set aside one weekend every year to nurture their family ties by meeting and sharing ancestral stories and create new ones. This August 9 – 11, 2013 these women, who call themselves “WOW” (Women out for the Weekend) plan to meet for their 20th gathering. The site will be Long Island, New York.

How does this extended family successfully cultivate their relationships? At WOW, these family members cry over loss, console those who miscarry a baby, share pictures, exchange advice, and cement their resolve as women to be there for each other. But it is far more.

These women learn and explore together. Although the women in the family span the political, religious and racial spectrum, they discovered that caring and learning from each other is far more important than arguing a certain viewpoint. The weekend is theme-based and includes at least one or two outings and several presentations. The themes have run the gamut from poetry (learning how to write a diamond poem) to minimalism (looking at minimalist art at the Milwaukee Art Museum) to simplicity (a tour of Amish farms in Southeastern Minnesota) to geology (naming rock formations at the Wisconsin Dells and Devils Lake State Park). Because the family roots are in Minnesota, most weekends are there and have been held at places like Minneapolis, Duluth, Brainerd, Two Harbors, Lake Milacs, Lanesboro, Stillwater and Borden Lake, but the group has also gone to New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, and the Wisconsin Dells. WOW’s location varies from year to year. The group has taken walks in nature parks, attempted Yoga or Tai Chi and watched videos to learn what it takes to Dance with the Stars or do the Chicken at a wedding dance. Each woman at WOW also makes a craft; possibly a small stain glass window, a painted flower vase, a dream catcher, an origami ball, bracelet, or candle. Pampering may include a manicure, foot soaking, facial mask or drinking a specially prepared cappuccino or doing something you rarely have time for at home.

All related by blood or marriage, these daughters remember their roots and why they mean so much to each other in a transitory world, and they find out it’s worth saving a weekend once a year to reconnect and celebrate who they are.