poorclaresdelray » Page 13 of 44

Going back a bit, I seem to remember having had a small, sparse bedroom, much like what you'd see in the movies about cloistered nuns. Bed, chair, table, crucifix, prayer book, tiny closet to hold my regular daily habit, a nice one for mass and ceremonies, and maybe some older stuff I didn't mind using as work clothes. Maybe couple pairs of shoes, maybe a spare veil. Not many clothes at all. After all, I was a Poor Clare, and owned nothing personal, lived an austere life.

But something happened, I'm not sure exactly when or who started it all, but suddenly, this austerity stuff was no longer 'good enough' for us. We had money, heck, had money to burn, so why not spend some of it on ourselves, start to enjoy a bit of comfort and luxury in life? We were special, Ya? We deserved the best, ya?

That's when the remodeling began. The sisters got together and turned in their personal wish list for a bedroom of their dreams, and we had our regular handyman make it happen for us. He tore down walls, combining several original cells into single suites. He ripped open floors and ceilings, added plumbing for a new, private bathroom in each suite, changed around existing electrical systems, added new light fixtures, switches, personal air conditioners, ceiling fans, heck, one sister even got a fish pond and waterfalls installed in hers! Another sister had extensive wall shelves installed, made out of thick plexiglas, running from wall to wall, and began her collection of ceramic buildings and such, creating scenic towns and countrysides. He also built huge closets which looked barren with so few clothes hanging up, so of course we had to fill them with our new secular 'play' clothes for our increasingly frequent nights out. A bit later on, I'll let you see the closet the 'one in charge' had built for her room, and see exactly how big and how stuffed from end to end, it was! Maybe behind closed doors, she wasn't so neat!

No more common showers and bathrooms either. The old ones just abandoned along with austerity.
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