Call of the Camino

by Suzanne Redfearn

Someday, Bug, we’ll walk it together. The Camino de Santiago, the reason for you and everything that came after.

Camino de Santiago. According to her, there is a trail that leads from a small French town on this side of the Pyrenees, over the range, and then across Spain to the great city of Santiago de Compostela, which is where the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried.

He drops his pack to the grass, opens the flap, and pulls out a brand-new pair of blue-and-gray hiking boots. Quiet, so no one hears but me, Jen says, “It looks like Cinderella might have just found her prince.”

Peter and I are squarely in the magic category, this thing between us mystical and powerful, like I’m caught in a fast-flowing current heading for a waterfall, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.

But it turns out the Camino has no mercy and things you believed long buried have a way of resurfacing in the void of space that the walk inevitably brings.

Symbiosis—I’ve always loved that word—the sum of the whole greater than the parts.

“Kindness is a gift; that’s what makes it kindness.”

Every morning we are born again, and it’s what we do today that matters most.’ It’s a Buddhist quote, and I use it to help me forgive my mistakes and move on from them. Maybe it will help you as well.”

Just because the bird is in a cage, doesn’t mean it doesn’t sing, which means, even if your circumstances are not what you hoped, you can learn to be content with what you have.

Time alone with yourself is a powerful thing, and some need more time than others to get acquainted with the person they’ve uncovered.