Peace and Quiet

I'm not asking for much, just some peace and quiet. It's a damn shame but I have to go to work to get some occasional peace and quiet and no drama. In my house, my very small two bed, one bathroom, house there isn't much peace. My wife is loud, the girls are loud, they fight and bicker and complain. I know very little, but I do know I don't have to shout to be heard and that loud plus loud or noise plus noise doesn't equal peace and quiet.
It's really so simple, just peace and quiet, no TV, no stereo, no computer. How more simple can it get? I think Thoreau had it all figured out right, go off alone for a while with just a little and your spirit and God. Jesus must have told His disciples something along those lines, Jesus Hisself would go off in a qiuet and peaceful place to be alone with God. There has to be something said for just the sounds of nature and being alone without all the crap we add to it.
I remember reading about a young American monk in a monastary in Egypt who related one of his first experiences after his arrival. He said that when he first was surrounded by the peace and the quiet it was loud, loud like a rushing wind. The loudness wasn't anything external, it was all the storm that was in his self, deep within his self. The noise of what he was so used to and from where he was from and what he had become, waiting to be calmed. He wasn't even aware of the storm within until he found himself surrounded by true peace and quiet. I can only imagine such an experience.
In my life, I am content for the peace and quiet of Sunday mornings. It's so beautiful, no wife, no children, no TV, no stereo, just me, the Sunday paper, a cup of coffee, and God. Sometimes I won't even go to church because even church can get too loud. I'll just sit in my own house and relax. It can be so calm here. Last Sunday I actually did go to mass, then I came home to peace and quiet, made myself some breakfast, read some, washed the truck in and out, cut grass up front and back and even lifted weights in the evening hours. I was just so pumped up from the peace and the quiet.
Sometimes even church can get too loud I just wrote. Want to get good with God and feel His presence. Go to an empty chapel or an empty church when no one is around and just sit there. You don't even have to pray, just sit still and breathe. I love it and I can remember the first time I really felt it. I was in the Navy stationed in San Diego at the hospital and one day I just dropped into the empty chapel to pray. Since then I have made it a point to visit churches and chapels when I come across them.
It's sad that many churches lock their doors unless there is an actual service because of vandals. However if you come across one go in and just sit still and just breathe. One of my favorites is St Mary's Basilica in Galveston, another is the chapel at UTMB. I make it a point to stop into the chapel of UTMB at least once during the shift if I work there. Hospital chapels are great because they are, for the most part, open 24/7.
In Houston I love stopping into the Rothko chapel, the Byzantine frescoes chapel and the chapel of St. Basil on the campus of the University of St. Thomas. They're all within walking distance of each other and the walk and nearby coffee houses and book stores and museums and art galleries all make for a great way to spend a sunday or any day off. Just go and recharge, I've taken my family before. Sometimes my wife and I will go by ourselves but the best times are when I take just my girls and we sit and actually talk. We'll really open up to each other in ways few other times will allow.
Must be dashing along now, have to get ready for work and such. Life goes on. As I type this little bit I am alone in my house, no TV or stereo or anything. The girls and their mother have gone off to taekwondo and I am at peace with just the windchimes and my thoughts and a calm like the calm before the storm. More to follow on that later.