Day 12. Only two more days of walking! I am so excited to arrive and yet there is always something new to discover on the Camino. Today our path intersected two other Camino paths and so things got. . . Busy. On our walk I met a woman who I simply had to know better. I took off walking at her pace, listening to her story and before I knew it we had been walking for an hour and I had left my friends. I continued on, feeling a deep connection with this woman. She began walking in Germany, she literally walked out of her house one day headed to Santiago, then when she reaches Santiago, she will begin walking home. For NINE MONTHS she will walk alone. As a child she wondered what it felt like to be a pilgrim who walked to Santiago AND home.
She has planned this trip for 18 years, walking many other Caminos in preparation. She said this journey calls her, a calling she cannot ignore. We walked and told stories most of the day. We ate lunch together and then she continued on while I was finished for the evening. When she left she was crying and blowing me kisses. I was the first companion she had walked with since France. It is amazing how we can impact one another in such a short amount of time. As she left she said, “This is the Camino, to say hello and goodbye in the same day.
” What can happen on the Camino can happen in life. We can cross paths with someone, love them in a moment and then say goodbye. Impact is not limited by time. The difference you make on someone else may encourage them to find their way home. #caminoprimitivo #caminoadventuress #caminodesantiago #hikingwithcancer
