Friday, May 24, 2013

May 24, 2013

I made it to the halfway point today. I took a little time to think back over the first half of this journey. That day in St. Jean when I took my first step, seems so distant, like another lifetime. In a way I guess it was. Since then, I have had many ups and downs, struggles and successes, smiles and tears, and I'm still walking. Still moving onward. Still giving it my all.

As I walked along today, a woman from Bulgaria slowed down to talk with me for awhile. She asked me if I was going all the way to Santiago, and I said yes, then asked her the same. She said, "I hope to!" I said, "Don't hope, just do it." I'm so good at giving advice to others, not so great at giving it to myself. Or maybe, it's more that I'm not very good at taking it from myself.

Alex recently told me that he believed there were few people in the world as brave as I was. Looking around at the hundreds of people walking with me, I disagreed. There are a lot of people walking the Camino. What makes me any braver than they are? That's when I realized that very few of them are walking it alone. Although many arrived alone, they have all hooked up with other people and are now walking together. Those who do walk alone, fill their time with their iPods, keeping their minds busy, possibly so as to not have to think about the unthinkable. I am facing it head on, with no buffer to save me. Ok. Maybe I am pretty brave after all. Brave enough to face myself all by myself. That takes guts.

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