Camino 2016 05/27 - Walking Apart, Walking Together

Our lives are so full of transitions. We walk together briefly but at some point we must walk our own separate ways. People come and go, whether we want them to or not. Jobs change, comforts ebb and flow, and healthiness rises and falls like the tide.

I think of relatives and friends we've lost this year, as well as those of years past. Or the prayers and visits we make to those fighting to continue today. 

The Camino I realized shows many transitions within the course of days. It feels longer to me because of the walking, but in truth it happens quickly. Transitions happen sometimes so suddenly that we actually don't have time to process it. I think that's what's happening to me. Our boots never rest, though we think they've been sitting around long enough to sprout flowers.

A week ago I was in Lourdes and walked an absurd distance over flat lands. Then heat and hills came. Then a Pyrnees hailstorm. Then forest. Then hilly villages. Now the starting of the Meseta plains. All in just over a week.

And through those walks, people have come and gone, some faster, some slower. Cuisine actually keeps changing as well, and also not just accent or dialect but actual language. My health improved then lagged and also follows unpredictable changes. The sun shines; it rains. Sometimes concurrently.

I've had to accept these things though in order to do so I must recognize I must yield to the Camino. If blisters slow me down then I have to figure out what to do about it. So yesterday, after seeing the infamous wine fountain, after the lovely walk with Ed, Will, and Johnny from the UK, and after some chatting with the Swiss couple Timmon and Luna at Los Arcos, I grabbed a bus down the hills to Logroño. It'll give me an extra day to walk shorter distances and I give more time for the blisters to melt away.

I met briefly in front of the Cathedral a fellow who has followed my journey. Andy  Perry left Paris two weeks ago, met up with Kathy in Bordeaux, and - knowing I left from Lourdes - knew we would cross paths soon. We chatted and wished each other Buen Camino as we continued on to enjoy this lovely and fun city.

I wonder who I will encounter next, as transitions continue, and our paths briefly cross, our footsteps briefly in sync.

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