The Map of My Trip

 
The Camino Frances crosses the Pyrenees from the French city of St Jean Pied de Port and travels along a 1000+ year old trail to Santiago de Compestella.  It is the most widely known and traveled route but not the only one.  The story begins with St James the apostle.  It is a tribute to this great soul after he brought the teachings of Jesus to Spain.  Walking the Camino is a pilgrimage into ones own soul and the discoveries each of us make as we cross mountains, country paths and the Meseta.  The pilgrim passes from small hamlets to small towns to big cities relying on the hospitality of the locals for their sleeping and food requirements.  A bit different today from centuries past, Refugios or Albergues provide pilgrims a place to sleep and sometimes a place to eat at a nominal fee.   Along the way, pilgrims pass the time as they walk alone and  with others they meet.  It is a time of reflection, working through life's many challenges and finding answers to the many questions.  Each pilgrim has their own reason for walking this route that is said to follow the Milky Way and have a Lay line of energy beneath it's surface.  Countless books talk about personal experiences and historical events, along with all the famous people of centuries past as well as today,   that have chosen to walk this  sacred pathway.

I imagine my own path somedays, each time never matching past reminiscences.  I have come to realize that I can not imagine what it will be like as this trip is so far outside my realm of knowledge that I will have to wait and see what wonders are mine to have.  This brings in control thoughts such as I won't have.. or I won't do... or I will surely not have to deal with...  Each silly thought born of fear.  Maybe part of all of this adventure is the desire for support, something I rarely feel I have.  The camaraderie of the trail, friendship, the support of one another. The respect of personal time along with all the petty little things that will irritate each other.  All of this will bring together in one place a showing of who I really am.  Sometimes I am pleased and other times I am horrified.  This excursion is sure to bring up any unresolved feelings and hopefully I will be able to resolve them and find in life the things I have always sought. They say you have to be in yourself, in order to have, outside yourself.  Maybe this trip will help me find the disconnect.  I will bring lots of rope, glue, cement,  and gadgets to reconnect with this lost part of me. 

Buen Camino
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