I’ve had the Camino de Santiago on my mind for several weeks. Friends of ours, Warren and Paula Lloyd, have been making this pilgrimage through France and Spain. I first met Paula when our daughters, Erin and Kaitlyn, were in school together. They traveled their school journey together, often in the same class, at one another’s birthday parties, as fierce debate partners and as respected friends. Paula and I weren’t best friends, but we liked and respected each other, and we were both moms, travelling a similar journey, raising our families, supporting our children, and trying to figure out life. Paula and Warren haven’t lived near us, or even in the same country for that matter, for decades, but we’ve somehow managed to stay somewhat in touch with their comings and goings, mainly as I hear about Erin and her family through Kaitlyn. It’s amazing to me how these chance encounters with people, how these relationships with people who come into our lives for a season, can become threads that weave back into our lives, and continue to amaze us with their richness and beauty.
Following Paula and Warrens’ journey as the walk The Way has allowed me to pick up that thread again.
The Camino, or Way of St. James, is an ancient pilgrimage trail in Europe, made up of a vast network of roads and paths, leading to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Many Catholics believe the remains of the Apostle, Saint James the Great were buried there. It’s hard to really pinpoint why people choose to embark on this pilgrimage. Many think of it as an opportunity to pursue an encounter with their faith, but it can also be done for many other reasons. It can simply be a chance to walk together. It can be a physical challenge. It can be an internal or spiritual journey. It can be a running away, or a walking home. People of all faiths walk the Camino, most of them meeting people from all other faiths and discovering they share much more in common with their fellow traveller than they may ever have expected.
No matter what, it is a difficult, 800km, four to six week undertaking that leaves a profound impact on the thousands and thousands of people who travel it.
Although I’ve never, ever had it in my mind to walk the Camino de Santiago, this year The Camino has found it’s way into my life through chance conversations, none of them initiated by me. I’ve learned to listen when the same message knocks at my door more than once.
I first heard about it when I watched The Way, the movie starring Martin Sheen, depicting his journey along the Camino. At the time I thought it might be an incredible thing to do, but I thought this only in a fleeting way, never really giving it much thought. Then a few months ago, we were having dinner with my brother, and friends of theirs, Peter and Kathy, joined us. Peter and Kathy had just returned home from three weeks on the Camino. They plan to do the entire thing but have broken it up into smaller trips. This was their second part of the trip, and we loved hearing their stories about it. Then a month or so ago my brother mentioned that he plans to bike it next fall. And of course, most recently, I heard about Warren, Paula, and their son Greg, who are walking it together, and have found myself deeply moved by their journey.
Warren creates the daily posts for them on Facebook. They are not elaborate or glamourous. They briefly describe the walk they have completed. Sometimes they let us know where they find a place to sleep, and they tell us about people they share meals and conversation with. Each day, they dedicate the section of trail they are walking for someone close to them. One day for each grandchild, one for each of their children and their spouses, one for relatives long gone from this earth, one for good friends, one for someone battling cancer, and yesterday, for a good friend Warren lost seven months ago. In the simplicity of these posts, I find something so profound.
Much of the trail looks to be about as wide as a narrow dirt road. It is well packed down. But yesterday they were covering some very mountainous terrain, and the trail was narrow. Warren took a short video, offering a little commentary of the one-minute section. He said, ‘This is our most difficult day yet. The trail is muddy and slippery, rocky and treacherous, and beautiful. And we get to do it.’
This post really struck me. Life too is muddy and slippery, rocky and treacherous, and beautiful. And we get to do it. What an amazing perspective on life. We get to do it. So often we are so busy with our own importance, with the things stacking up on our calendars, with our commitments and obligations, and all the things we say we ‘have to do’, and we completely forget to be thankful that we ‘get to do it’.
This morning on Warren’s post I read that they had come to a sign saying 200km to Santiago. They could not believe it. They have completed 600km and have only 200km more to go. At 100km to go, they will be met by their grandchildren who will walk the final stage of the journey with them.
Warren ends each post with ‘Buen Camino’, the greeting shared by pilgrims, hikers and cyclists and also with local people who wish each other well on the Camino de Santiago. Translated it literally means good road. But it can also mean good path, path being physically or spiritually. In my mind, I can hear people softly saying it to one another, understanding that while they each try to limit their physical load as they walk, each of them, each of us, also carries a different kind of load, one that is not quite so easy to put down.
I wish we had such a greeting, such a way to acknowledge the path being walked by each of us. I may not begin to say this out loud, I’m not sure I’ve earned the right to it, but I suspect I will begin to silently offer a ‘Buen Camino’ to those I ‘get to do’ life with.
Buen Camino.
My inquiry for you this week is, ‘How am I creating a Buen Camino?’
Elizabeth is a certified professional Leadership Coach, and the owner of Critchley Coaching. She is the founder and president of the Canadian charity, RDL Building Hope Society. She works with corporations, non-profits and the public sector, providing leadership coaching. She creates and facilitates custom workshops for all sizes of groups and has expertise in facilitating Strategic Plans for organizations. Contact Elizabeth to learn how to create a Buen Camino.
Following Paula and Warrens’ journey as the walk The Way has allowed me to pick up that thread again.
The Camino, or Way of St. James, is an ancient pilgrimage trail in Europe, made up of a vast network of roads and paths, leading to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Many Catholics believe the remains of the Apostle, Saint James the Great were buried there. It’s hard to really pinpoint why people choose to embark on this pilgrimage. Many think of it as an opportunity to pursue an encounter with their faith, but it can also be done for many other reasons. It can simply be a chance to walk together. It can be a physical challenge. It can be an internal or spiritual journey. It can be a running away, or a walking home. People of all faiths walk the Camino, most of them meeting people from all other faiths and discovering they share much more in common with their fellow traveller than they may ever have expected.
No matter what, it is a difficult, 800km, four to six week undertaking that leaves a profound impact on the thousands and thousands of people who travel it.
Although I’ve never, ever had it in my mind to walk the Camino de Santiago, this year The Camino has found it’s way into my life through chance conversations, none of them initiated by me. I’ve learned to listen when the same message knocks at my door more than once.
I first heard about it when I watched The Way, the movie starring Martin Sheen, depicting his journey along the Camino. At the time I thought it might be an incredible thing to do, but I thought this only in a fleeting way, never really giving it much thought. Then a few months ago, we were having dinner with my brother, and friends of theirs, Peter and Kathy, joined us. Peter and Kathy had just returned home from three weeks on the Camino. They plan to do the entire thing but have broken it up into smaller trips. This was their second part of the trip, and we loved hearing their stories about it. Then a month or so ago my brother mentioned that he plans to bike it next fall. And of course, most recently, I heard about Warren, Paula, and their son Greg, who are walking it together, and have found myself deeply moved by their journey.
Warren creates the daily posts for them on Facebook. They are not elaborate or glamourous. They briefly describe the walk they have completed. Sometimes they let us know where they find a place to sleep, and they tell us about people they share meals and conversation with. Each day, they dedicate the section of trail they are walking for someone close to them. One day for each grandchild, one for each of their children and their spouses, one for relatives long gone from this earth, one for good friends, one for someone battling cancer, and yesterday, for a good friend Warren lost seven months ago. In the simplicity of these posts, I find something so profound.
Much of the trail looks to be about as wide as a narrow dirt road. It is well packed down. But yesterday they were covering some very mountainous terrain, and the trail was narrow. Warren took a short video, offering a little commentary of the one-minute section. He said, ‘This is our most difficult day yet. The trail is muddy and slippery, rocky and treacherous, and beautiful. And we get to do it.’
This post really struck me. Life too is muddy and slippery, rocky and treacherous, and beautiful. And we get to do it. What an amazing perspective on life. We get to do it. So often we are so busy with our own importance, with the things stacking up on our calendars, with our commitments and obligations, and all the things we say we ‘have to do’, and we completely forget to be thankful that we ‘get to do it’.
This morning on Warren’s post I read that they had come to a sign saying 200km to Santiago. They could not believe it. They have completed 600km and have only 200km more to go. At 100km to go, they will be met by their grandchildren who will walk the final stage of the journey with them.
Warren ends each post with ‘Buen Camino’, the greeting shared by pilgrims, hikers and cyclists and also with local people who wish each other well on the Camino de Santiago. Translated it literally means good road. But it can also mean good path, path being physically or spiritually. In my mind, I can hear people softly saying it to one another, understanding that while they each try to limit their physical load as they walk, each of them, each of us, also carries a different kind of load, one that is not quite so easy to put down.
I wish we had such a greeting, such a way to acknowledge the path being walked by each of us. I may not begin to say this out loud, I’m not sure I’ve earned the right to it, but I suspect I will begin to silently offer a ‘Buen Camino’ to those I ‘get to do’ life with.
Buen Camino.
My inquiry for you this week is, ‘How am I creating a Buen Camino?’
Elizabeth is a certified professional Leadership Coach, and the owner of Critchley Coaching. She is the founder and president of the Canadian charity, RDL Building Hope Society. She works with corporations, non-profits and the public sector, providing leadership coaching. She creates and facilitates custom workshops for all sizes of groups and has expertise in facilitating Strategic Plans for organizations. Contact Elizabeth to learn how to create a Buen Camino.
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