Sarah Ruth van Gelder, YES! magazine

Sarah Ruth van Gelder is the executive editor of YES! a Journal of Positive Futures and a resident of Winslow Cohousing on Bainbridge Island, Wash.

The day began at 6 a.m. and ended at 1:30 a.m. It will be great to be away at a writers' retreat on "sabbatical," but I always pay for these absences in advance. My two children, ages 9 and 13, are going to be at camp for one of the two weeks I'll be gone, so my husband and I were getting them ready to go off as I was doing my own packing. I did manage to get through my list of must-do's before leaving, so I depart feeling confident that everything is as it should be.