St. James
St. James above the special anniversary door of the cathedral in Santiago
Monday, July 25, 2011
Feast of St. James 2011
July 25th. Today, I feel like I just might make it! I am finished with "Rocks" which is through June 20th, 2010 and the night we stayed in one of our least favorite places, Ponferrada. Check out the updated entries and added pictures in all of the postings from the beginning up through this one.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Anniversary
Exactly a year ago today, I was winging my way back from perhaps the greatest adventure and one of the most truly wonderful things I have done to date in my life - the Camino. Stella and I flew back from Madrid, having made a dry run from our hostel to the airport the day before to see how long it took to take the metro and make all the connections. Her husband, Dave, met us in Atlanta, and I continued on to Savannah, where my dear friend, Fred, awaited me to drive me the 45 minutes or so home. Despite wanting to see my mother and friends and cats again, it was hard to come back.
It was hard to leave ...leave what, exactly? I've never been able to narrow it down, or name it. It was certainly good to get back to familiarity - knowing the language, the customs, fitting in. But it was hard to leave a connection to a wider universe perhaps, to people so fleetingly known but somehow to whom I was so experientially connected. It was hard to let go of an intense connection to nature for an extended period of time, for someone who loves to garden as much as possible, but who usually is in an office - spending week after week walking on trails through wildflowers and different terrains, a new vista around every bend was simply heaven on earth. It was incredibly hard to leave the sense that I had indeed been resting with God, playing (as I write this, even, tears are forming) in the fields of the Lord, skipping and dancing at times, in God's presence when I thought no other pilgrims were in sight, out of sheer ecstasy of just being alive in God's world in such a place. It was hard to leave putting aside most all thoughts of my day to day routines and enjoying the moments for what they were - breathing in the here and now which I so often forget to do when I am home, because they all seem so different when we are sojourners in a foreign land.
Little did I know that I really wasn't leaving it all behind so much. Stella asked me sometime in those last few days if I would come back and do the Camino again and I (I think rather emphatically) said, "No!" But perhaps I spoke in haste, for it has not let ME go. The Camino, or at least parts of it, call to me. I don't think a day has gone by when I have not thought of somewhere along the way, some experience, some person, some meal, some view, some joy, at least once. Especially lately, as I have been repeating the calendar days of being on the journey. I have been going back to see where I was on particular days and reliving them. Seeing them come alive again in my heart and my mind. Mary and I have talked about it, too. I am "friends" with a number of people I met on the journey on Facebook and since we all finished about this time, we have all be commenting about it.
For Christmas, my next door neighbor, Dave, gave me one of the most thoughtful gifts I think I have ever received. In the fall, they had taken down the old fence which divided their yard from mine and put up a new, lower one. In the process, they moved the fence out to the property line (the previous owner of their home had erected it about four or five feet in from the line). In doing so, the new fence ran right up against one big old oak and they had to take out a small, non-descript tree that had grown up as a volunteer in the last few years. Unbeknownst to me, Dave had taken that tree, cut it down to about a four foot length, debarked it, carved into it the Christian fish symbol, my name and it's meaning (God's grace), "Jesus" in the shape of a fish,
and three Scriptural quotations:
And then Dave sanded the whole thing and varnished it, and it is now the finest walking stick that anyone could ever hope for. It has the most comfortable feel in the palm of my hand. It is just right for another journey...
I don't think I still realize the full significance of this pilgrimage on my life yet, and perhaps never will completely. I know it has made staying in an office very difficult. Which is why, while I take some time off, I am going to finish this blog and do some other things with the mementos of this trip. So stay tuned for updates as they occur!
It was hard to leave ...leave what, exactly? I've never been able to narrow it down, or name it. It was certainly good to get back to familiarity - knowing the language, the customs, fitting in. But it was hard to leave a connection to a wider universe perhaps, to people so fleetingly known but somehow to whom I was so experientially connected. It was hard to let go of an intense connection to nature for an extended period of time, for someone who loves to garden as much as possible, but who usually is in an office - spending week after week walking on trails through wildflowers and different terrains, a new vista around every bend was simply heaven on earth. It was incredibly hard to leave the sense that I had indeed been resting with God, playing (as I write this, even, tears are forming) in the fields of the Lord, skipping and dancing at times, in God's presence when I thought no other pilgrims were in sight, out of sheer ecstasy of just being alive in God's world in such a place. It was hard to leave putting aside most all thoughts of my day to day routines and enjoying the moments for what they were - breathing in the here and now which I so often forget to do when I am home, because they all seem so different when we are sojourners in a foreign land.
Little did I know that I really wasn't leaving it all behind so much. Stella asked me sometime in those last few days if I would come back and do the Camino again and I (I think rather emphatically) said, "No!" But perhaps I spoke in haste, for it has not let ME go. The Camino, or at least parts of it, call to me. I don't think a day has gone by when I have not thought of somewhere along the way, some experience, some person, some meal, some view, some joy, at least once. Especially lately, as I have been repeating the calendar days of being on the journey. I have been going back to see where I was on particular days and reliving them. Seeing them come alive again in my heart and my mind. Mary and I have talked about it, too. I am "friends" with a number of people I met on the journey on Facebook and since we all finished about this time, we have all be commenting about it.
For Christmas, my next door neighbor, Dave, gave me one of the most thoughtful gifts I think I have ever received. In the fall, they had taken down the old fence which divided their yard from mine and put up a new, lower one. In the process, they moved the fence out to the property line (the previous owner of their home had erected it about four or five feet in from the line). In doing so, the new fence ran right up against one big old oak and they had to take out a small, non-descript tree that had grown up as a volunteer in the last few years. Unbeknownst to me, Dave had taken that tree, cut it down to about a four foot length, debarked it, carved into it the Christian fish symbol, my name and it's meaning (God's grace), "Jesus" in the shape of a fish,
and three Scriptural quotations:"Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John8:12)
"I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Ps. 23)
"Let us walk in the Light of the Lord." (Isaiah 2:5)
And then Dave sanded the whole thing and varnished it, and it is now the finest walking stick that anyone could ever hope for. It has the most comfortable feel in the palm of my hand. It is just right for another journey...I don't think I still realize the full significance of this pilgrimage on my life yet, and perhaps never will completely. I know it has made staying in an office very difficult. Which is why, while I take some time off, I am going to finish this blog and do some other things with the mementos of this trip. So stay tuned for updates as they occur!
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