Kerstinh47
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances 16 May - 29 June, 2014
I spent an hour or so re-reading some of the things I shared either privately with friends and family or occasionally on Facebook as I walked the camino Frances last year... reading this prompted me to share it here. Do you have a 'heart' story from your own camino? I want to read yours 
)
Kerstin Hanson
June 28, 2014 · Sigüeiro, Spain ·
From my camino group message today:
Hello. I awoke to rain and decided to go back to sleep. The cafe/bar/pension that I stayed at said they would be open at 8:30 this morning, and the second time I awoke it was 8:30. The rain had lessened a bit so I got myself and my pack ready and out the door I went to NO COFFEE. It was now nearly 9am and they were still not open.
So I put my rain gear on and began to walk. I walked out of the city and into the woods, my boots squishing into the muddy trail with each step. After about 4kms I came to a cafe and finally had a proper cup of coffee. I continued to walk, again in a forest thick with the smell of natural decay and renewal. My boots squished with each careful step as I avoided puddles and possible areas to slip and fall. I thought about Santiago, now only 15 or 16 kms away; I thought about what it has taken physically, spiritually, and emotionally to get to this point. The trail began to climb, and climb, and climb.....I began to sing 'Stairway to Heaven' & I was sure this hill would never end. I told myself I was beautiful after imagining what I must look like and being aware of self-judgement, and I cried. I thought about everyone's beauty in spite of how hard we are on ourselves. I thought about my dad and how much I love him and how this long walking journey has helped me to find peace in the grief of loss. The hill eventually came to the top and I couldn't believe it. I really was prepared to walk uphill the rest of the day. It began to descend, and I started to notice hearts made in the mud on the trail with a walking stick of a pilgrim somewhere ahead of me. I got startled by a group of four bikers who gave me no warning they were behind me and after they passed I began to cry again. Sometime later, I saw a pilgrim stopped ahead of me, making a heart in the mud with her walking stick. I approached her, smiled in recognition - she was an Australian I had met yesterday who found after forty years of marriage that her husband had never been faithful to her - she told me that her mission today with the hearts was because the world didn't have enough love and she was adding love today; it was her hundredth heart so far. I cried. The heart is tender; the heart is fierce; the heart takes us anywhere we want to go if we are willing to set down all of the reasons why 'we can't'.
I'm ten kilometers from Santiago now. I can't believe I'm this close; I can't believe I've come this far. Tomorrow I'll arrive at the destination I've dreamt of walking to for a couple of years.
Each of you has been on this journey with me somehow - each of you is tender, fierce, and most of all - beautiful. Thank you for being here with me in my heart.
Love yourselves-
Love each other-
Love y'all-
Kerstin
)Kerstin Hanson
June 28, 2014 · Sigüeiro, Spain ·
From my camino group message today:
Hello. I awoke to rain and decided to go back to sleep. The cafe/bar/pension that I stayed at said they would be open at 8:30 this morning, and the second time I awoke it was 8:30. The rain had lessened a bit so I got myself and my pack ready and out the door I went to NO COFFEE. It was now nearly 9am and they were still not open.
So I put my rain gear on and began to walk. I walked out of the city and into the woods, my boots squishing into the muddy trail with each step. After about 4kms I came to a cafe and finally had a proper cup of coffee. I continued to walk, again in a forest thick with the smell of natural decay and renewal. My boots squished with each careful step as I avoided puddles and possible areas to slip and fall. I thought about Santiago, now only 15 or 16 kms away; I thought about what it has taken physically, spiritually, and emotionally to get to this point. The trail began to climb, and climb, and climb.....I began to sing 'Stairway to Heaven' & I was sure this hill would never end. I told myself I was beautiful after imagining what I must look like and being aware of self-judgement, and I cried. I thought about everyone's beauty in spite of how hard we are on ourselves. I thought about my dad and how much I love him and how this long walking journey has helped me to find peace in the grief of loss. The hill eventually came to the top and I couldn't believe it. I really was prepared to walk uphill the rest of the day. It began to descend, and I started to notice hearts made in the mud on the trail with a walking stick of a pilgrim somewhere ahead of me. I got startled by a group of four bikers who gave me no warning they were behind me and after they passed I began to cry again. Sometime later, I saw a pilgrim stopped ahead of me, making a heart in the mud with her walking stick. I approached her, smiled in recognition - she was an Australian I had met yesterday who found after forty years of marriage that her husband had never been faithful to her - she told me that her mission today with the hearts was because the world didn't have enough love and she was adding love today; it was her hundredth heart so far. I cried. The heart is tender; the heart is fierce; the heart takes us anywhere we want to go if we are willing to set down all of the reasons why 'we can't'.
I'm ten kilometers from Santiago now. I can't believe I'm this close; I can't believe I've come this far. Tomorrow I'll arrive at the destination I've dreamt of walking to for a couple of years.
Each of you has been on this journey with me somehow - each of you is tender, fierce, and most of all - beautiful. Thank you for being here with me in my heart.
Love yourselves-
Love each other-
Love y'all-
Kerstin
