For your listening pleasure while reading: Thank U by Alanis Morissette
My sister Kathy has calmly determined not to go to Spain right now. She needs to do some concentrated caregiving to bring a loved one back to good health. She has let go of her dream at this time, thoughtfully and peacefully, with her priorities and self knowledge clear and strong. Spain will still be there in 3 months or a year.
But I am gripping tighter to my dream, having been denied it previously. I will go right ahead and travel with Kathy’s cheerful, capable, gregarious friend Judy, a retired middle school humanities teacher. We have a lot in common and should have a ton of fun.
Joining us will be 50,000 or 200,000 other pilgrims of all shapes and sizes and temperaments. I have no control over any of it.
Asi es la vida. I thought my Camino in May was going to be a contemplative walking experience, and it turned out to be an organizational experience, a death and funeral experience, a family conflict and reconciliation experience. I thought this Camino in September was going to be a sister bonding experience down the memory lane of our shared childhood. Now I find it may be an experience of meeting new people and adjusting, flexing, changing. What do these two trips have in common?… we have very little control over circumstances. Make a plan, see if it works, if not change it. Sounds so simple, huh?
