2 Days and Counting

(my first blog…a little lengthy and I promise not indicative of what’s to come with my blogging expertise (and obvious lack of) and length of wording)

After years of contemplation, and months of research and planning, I am now down to 2 days before my journey. I have selected several links to share Wikipedia: Camino de Santiago should you want to look a little deeper into the background of this pilgrimage; and Wikipedia: The Way about the movie that originally inspired my journey.   

Camino de Santiago

Some have thought of this as a vacation of sorts for me, but without hesitation, I call it a calling. Sounds mystical or possibly farfetched, but from the moment I began watching the film The Way some years back, without pause, I knew it was in the cards for me to do this.  Spooky huh? No, not for me as I have always felt throughout my entire life I had a compass helping me choose different paths. Sometimes my life turned on a dime, other times it evolved slowly and methodically, but underling it all was a deep sense of purpose and reinforcement from some external source. Maybe my guardian angel, but definitely a higher power. None the less, I have been following my heart and inner voice on this subject for the past several years while deeply questioning why I would leave my loving wife for 5 weeks and seek out on a personal journey. We have been married for 35 years and have never been apart like this. 

There is no turning back now. At 63, I alternate from nervousness to a sense of peace looking forward to the unknown (I guess some might call it a fulfillment of my calling). As a Pharmacist and a Catholic, who would have ever thought that they would intertwine but during my research of the history of the Camino de Santiago, (which translates to the Way of St James) I was delighted to find out that who else is the Patron Saint of Pharmacists, none other than St James. (Us Catholics love our Patron Saints)   You are free to draw your own conclusions, I definitely have mine. When I made my final decision around Christmas 2013 to make this happen, I had just been blessed with my first two grandsons, Jameson and Henry.  I felt I needed to do this sooner than later as I did not want to miss any of life’s joy of having grandchildren. They entered this world as 9 weeks premature and I was so deeply impacted by how frail they were (as life is in general), and I didn’t want to take anything for granted. So I decided to do this item on my bucket list ASAP. With the help and support of Kathy and others (especially my work colleagues), I was able to line-up the work absence and being off the grid from my day to day filling of prescriptions and consulting responsibilities for 5 weeks. Unbelievable, huh?  Meant to be, again I would say.

So today I start the final steps in organizing my backpack for what I hope will be the final round of planning for any of the “what if’s”  I can attempt to plan for.  Everything I now think I might need for 5 weeks has been wedeled down to 20  lbs or so that I will carry on my back over the next 5 weeks and hopefully completing the approximately 700 km’s (450miles). (*I have shortened it a bit as I chickened out with regard to starting out in the South of France as it would have required me to cross the Pyrenees in late winter, I am crazy but not that crazy) 

I am also starting my first blog so please bear with me and excuse any typos or grammatical errors -- this will be done either via a cell phone or tablet and oh how I rely on spell check typically.  This leap into the high-tech world has come highly encouraged, almost mandated, by my tech suave children, and suppose my wife who wants to keep an eye on me.  I pray I don’t embarrass myself in the days and weeks to come.

Buen Camino to me

Getting all my gear together