Day 227

Two days in a row. Can you handle it?

Today someone asked me how and why I knew I was meant to walk the Camino de Santiago. I looked back at my first post in this blog, 'And So It Begins...", thinking I had talked about that at the beginning of all of this. I realized that I never discussed the strange and serendipitous events that led me to where I am right now. When I tell people it's because I watched a movie about it, they often look at me as if I'm a little off. I get that. But it is so much deeper than those words imply. Keep in mind, I still have absolutely no idea why I'm taking this trip across an ocean to walk 500 miles on that ancient path. That piece has yet to be revealed, but every day something reminds me that I have made the right decision. So for those who don't know how this all began, here you go.

Last November, in 2011, I was in between projects at work and looking for a good movie to entertain me for the afternoon. I opened the movie app on my phone and began to browse the current titles in the theaters. I ran across a movie entitled, 'The Way'. With names like Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez, I assumed it was a big budget release that would be showing in all the theaters, but when I searched for movie times and locations, I saw it was only showing in a small theater in Denver, 40 miles away. An indy film. I'm not opposed to independent movies, but I didn't feel like driving to Denver. So I chose another movie, playing at the theater in Loveland, a theater geared towards the major studio releases.

The next week, once again, I felt the need to see a movie. For the record, I don't go to that many movies, so that's a little odd. This time, I pulled up the movies specifically showing in Loveland. Guess what movie was now playing just a few miles from my house. Exactly. 'The Way'. An indy picture showing in Loveland? Hmmm. So off I went to the movie. It was such an amazing film, one I knew I'd remember for a lifetime. The scenery in the movie was absolutely breathtaking, the story was captivating. I thought to myself, "I'd love to see Spain one day." I never once thought, "I'd like to WALK ACROSS Spain one day."

Two months later, on January 1, 2012, I left for a cruise through the South Pacific out of Sydney, Australia. It was to be a trip that would very literally change my life. Little did I know how much. I left L.A. for the 14-hour flight across the Pacific late at night. Most of my time on the plane would be spent sleeping, I hoped. Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up. I noticed a new movie was just starting on the movie screen. I decided to sit up and watch it, whatever it was. I bet you can guess. Yep. It was 'The Way'. They don't typically play indy films on airplanes, do they? Again, I was drawn in by the scenery and the story. Again, I thought to myself, "I'd love to see Spain one day." Again, it never crossed my mind, "I'd like to walk across Spain one day."

In April of this year, I experienced a loss that many of you will remember. This loss redefined who I was and where I was going. It was the type of loss that left me wondering, "Who am I?" The scary thing was, I no longer knew. Feeling very alone, I began searching for a place near Loveland or Ft. Collins where I could meet like-minded people. It was time for me to transition out of the paranormal world in which I had become immersed, and into the more spiritual world. I found a place in Ft. Collins that seemed to fit my needs. Well, sort of. It felt too much like church. Having been raised Baptist, I tended to avoid situations that feel too church-y. So while I may have found what I needed, I refused to act on it. But every day, it seemed, I was drawn to look at the website for this place, this Whole Life Center, until one day I clicked on their calendar of events and guess what movie they were showing that Friday night. I'm sure you don't even have to guess.

That Friday night, while watching the movie for the third time, I thought to myself, "I'd like to walk across Spain one day." And so, here I am. Walking across Spain one day. In May and June of 2013.