Day 12 on the Camino Way

This bit of art makes me laugh every time I look at it. It’s so true. The first day I was carrying 20 lbs in my backpack. I nearly collapsed by the end. In fact I did fall backwards climbing down a steep and rocky decline. My right arm ended up in a thorn bush. Fortunately that’s all it was. It could have been a lot worse. I had my computer in my pack for crying out loud. Nuts. Sally was carrying 15 lbs.

When we looked at this piece of art the thing we noticed was that the pilgrim is dreaming of his easy chair. Sally and I chuckled about that, because we both have the same thoughts from time to time—back home in our comfortable chairs with a cup of coffee. I’m smiling now. He also has a iron with him. Funny stuff.

Accomplishing What Exactly?

We can agree, I think, that if we can do this, this being, walking the entire 35 days to Santiago, then that will be an accomplishment. But what exactly will we have accomplished? This is an Important question for us right now. We will not have done anything really. It’s like running a marathon or doing an Iron Man or swimming the English Channel, or the greatest of them all, climbing Mount Everest. Those are all impressive feats, but what do they accomplish?

I’m not sure why I’m even asking this question. I certainly do not want to diminish any one’s efforts of doing something that requirers sacrifice and determination. In fact, I would do just the opposite. Whatever it is that Sally and I are doing I think more of us should do something like this. And what is this? This is testing one’s limits, I guess. And it doesn’t have to be physical either. It can be reading a difficult book, one that stretches you, makes you google things because these are new things for you. Or learn a new skill—I make sourdough bread. It’s more then a hobby for me. It’s a skill I’ve learned. Of course, bread you can eat, so . . .

What’s Your Point Exactly?

I don’t know if I have a point, exactly. These are thoughts that I’m thinking out loud with you. Does everything we do in life have to have a purpose? Do we really need to be purpose driven, or driven at all? Can we simply do things that are the living out of some dream we’ve had, or an urge we have to try something new, something crazy, something that may fail. I threw away so many loaves of bread—we’d joke about frisbees I made. (I know the bread thing is not the best analogy but it’s what I’ve got at 5 in the morning.)

Life is short and the living of it should be owned by each of us. It’s my life. These are my thoughts, my dreams, my desires to be lived out or not. Each effort I make to be a better person actually makes me a better person. This 35 day thing that we are trying may only accomplish one thing. It may make us better people—kinder, more reflective, more aware of our surroundings and the people in our orbit. We will have seen new land, met new people. One thing we’ve seen already is the devastation by whatever it is that is happening all over the world with weather. It’s September here and the temperatures are still in the 90s.

Back a Day for a Minute, Por Favor

One of our traveling companions commented on yesterday’s post—the one about tedium. She said, “Yesterday when we were on that long, hard walk, there were times when I could hear my own footsteps. I was aware of each breath going out and coming in. I could actually feel my heart beating. My brain was accessing everything about my body—my feet, my sore right ankle, my shoulders under the pack. I was completely in the moment! How often does that happen?”

Day 12 started hard, but then got easier. And we needed that. Tomorrow (today actually) Sally and I head out ”just the two of us.” Our three friends are going ahead to finish on bikes. We wish them well and thank God for them. Bonnie, who has become one of us, is wisely taking a rest day—why didn’t we think of that?

I know nothing about what the trail is like ahead. Bob and Susanne did all that research. Sally and I will start doing that tonight. Today we do what we’ve done before. We go! What’s to be accomplished today? We go!