Where does it start?…When we bought plane tickets?…When the wheels lift off the tarmac tomorrow or when they touch down on another continent the day after that?…Did my pilgrimage begin with the relentless packing preparations? Or did it start 14 years ago when the credits rolled at the end of the movie premiere of The Way at Virginia Tech, when my soul cried out “I want to do that?!”
I suspect it began and ends where all things begin and end. In the mind of God. I don’t know why I want to do it. “You could have gone to Hawaii or a fancy spa!”friends have pointed out. Why would you want to walk 160 miles carrying your clothes on your back, sleeping and bathing in hostels? The closer it gets the more I ask myself that.
I don’t know why I want to do it. I don’t know IF I can do it. But I have already learned so much. “Just take the next right step,” God has whispered when I was overwhelmed with the planning of dates and flights, and “suck it up, Buttercup” when I obsessed over the exact right clothing or equipment.
“The best part about the Camino,” most everyone I’ve talked to, watched or read has said, “is the people you meet along The Way.”
I’m glad you’re with me. The older I get the more I understand the value of the spiritual in relationship to the physical. It is good that we are here. There will be peaks and there will be valleys. I am both exited and anxious. And I appreciate your interest and your support.
