Penny, you describe such an awesome experience which I am very happy for you, could you describe what about your experience was so fulfilling and/ or enjoyable?
Hello Kent
As you may have read in my previous posts doing the Camino was a dream I held for approx. 30 years.
With all of the reading I had done over the years, all aspects of it interested me.
I purchased and studied the guides, thinking I would follow the stages...but on the 3rd day I donated it...along with many other items. The physical pain was so high on that day...I was in tears...I truly felt that my Camino was over. I had to pull deep inside myself to move forward. Pain has been a daily part of my life since 11...with the onset of Lipedema. A condition where toxins build up in your body causing all over pain due to a non functioning lymphatic system. Then the added nerve pain of M.S. I got angry ! I decided then that I could walk with the pain here in these beautiful surroundings. ..fulfilling my long held dream. Or go home. I knew the pain would likely worsen...but I also knew that in staying my spirits would rise. And in completing for me ...something I could take with me through life ...pushing me forward. So I stayed...and I smiled..and I concoured.
Something that you don't realize before is the pulse of the Camino. There's an ebb and flow that if you allow yourself ...captures your soul. I chose to not follow any stages. I fell in love with the people living along the Camino as well as those that traveled it. I took the time to converse with the locals. Sometimes with charades as I don't speak Spanish.
I fell in love with the beauty and history. Sometimes a quick hello turning into a 3 hour discussion under a shade tree. It's funny many people passed me arriving early to there stop, thrilled with there making it in short time. That was just not my goal. I wanted to take in every step...and did. Yes I'm lucky to have a very supportive husband. He knew how important this was to me. He urged me take whatever time it took. You see with Multiple Sclerosis you just don't know what your future holds. I was also diagnosed with skin cancer a week after the M.S diagnosis. ..requiring two cemo treatments. All this the year before I did my Camino. For me the physical pain that I experienced was nothing compared to the emotional, physical and spiritual beauty I experienced. To see people from all over the world, with such different backgrounds and burdens travel together with a common goal....beautiful. I truly miss the calm I felt. I felt embraced...and came home enriched and truly empowered...to continue my Camino wherever it takes me.
I know it likely seems odd but it just hit me.
