gmag
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- frances 1998, 2000, 2013
I wanted to thank John Brierley for his dedication to the Camino by sharing with him this strange story of the Camino.
Brierley loves the Camino, and that's why I'm writing this. It is a true and strange story that happened to me, and that I think deserves to be told, I think that this is the best moment and the best person, it is a story of the Camino.
It's been over two years, and I've barely counted it. The fact of being part of history myself makes me hardly ever talk about it, only when I sometimes talk about what we call The Miracles of the Camino, those special things that are difficult to explain logically that happen on the Camino to people who they really love the Camino, they enjoy it even with physically suffering from very strong pain and they walk, and they enter the albergues with a big smile.
I don't want to tell something that I did, but something that happened and of which I was a part.
One Saturday a French man called me to make a reservation for the next day. But he told me that perhaps they would not arrive because his wife had severe pain in her knees, and possibly they would stop in Boadilla.
Very good, I told him. If you stop, just call me by phone on time and I cancel the reservation.
But they arrived at thealbergue, accompanied by two other new friends, also French.
Sitting in front of me at the reception, while I was filling out the Civil Guard form, I asked her how she was doing, and he replied that it was very bad, but without really knowing why she had to come to the albergue. They could have stopped in Boadilla, six kilometers before Frómista, but "she had" to get to this albergue.
First thing illogical, in her state she should have stopped earlier.
We didn't talk much that afternoon. But I did talk to one of the friends, a very nice and interesting man, a mountain guide in the French Alps. In the afternoon he visited my studio, he didn't know how to draw but he liked my drawings. This made that at night, when he went to bed, without knowing why it occurred to me to ask him if he would like a drawing class with me the next day. He replied that a lot but that he did not dare to ask me in the afternoon..., I offered him the free class, he would only have to pay for the bed, and the next day, Monday morning, I would take him by car to the albergue where they were their friends, so as not to lose them. We had an unforgettable Sunday, drawing class, two hours, and a very interesting afternoon with Sebastien. A great man!!.
It was the second illogical thing
When around 9 in the morning we all met at the door of the Albergue Santa Clara, we talked about things, I reminded them that miracles exist on the Camino, and I told them something that happened to Anita and me on our second Camino in the year 2000. Nothing important really. And, when we were saying goodbye, I told them: “if from here to Santiago, at any time, no matter where or when, you have a problem, call me, you know how to reach me”. We smile and say goodbye. I've never said something like that to anyone before, it's almost absurd! It even seemed strange to me. There is always someone closer who can do the same, so it is absurd to say so. It is true that I speak French correctly, which is important to solve problems over the phone...
Third illogical thing.
Four hours later, around 1:30 p.m., she called me on the phone. And she told me: "Hello Gabriel, Louis has fallen to the ground, he has a lot of stomach pain and we don't know what to do." She told me that he had eaten a sandwich and maybe he was intoxicated. I asked her a few more questions about his condition, she gave me the exact position, and I told her to wait there, that I would call the 112 emergency service. In less than two minutes I spoke to two people, the second a doctor, I told him everything that I knew and told me that they would call an ambulance immediately. Less than ten minutes later they called me to say that they were already on their way to the Hospital de Palencia. Very good, all very efficient and fast, I thought.
At night she called me on the phone, she told me that they had arrived at the hospital, that they were waiting for them at the door, that they operated on him urgently because he had about half an hour to live… he had a very serious and strange intestinal infection.
Ok, now come my three questions:
-Why did she come to the albergue without knowing why, it being absurd for her not to stay in Boadilla?
-Why did I offer a free drawing class to someone who didn't ask me, nor did he give me signs that he was interested in learning to draw? That class was the reason for going to Carrión and seeing them again...
-Why did I tell them to call me on the phone if they needed something? That phrase was what made them call me at that moment. If they hadn't and waited for it all to go away, it would have been very different.
My explanation of why it happened the way it did:
They loved the Camino, and what I have seen many times in the albergue is that the Camino, or Santiago, for those who really love the Camino with all that it entails, good and bad, solves difficult situations, perhaps not always, without a doubt, but many times, more than statistics can justify.
It is a true story of the Camino.
Still today, now, I have written in pencil the kilometer point where they were and her phone number, I wrote them when she called me on my work table in my engraving studio in the albergue. I have no intention of deleting them. And I know that it was a force outside of me that moved everything so that everything that happened happened, from the moment they chose my albergue and not one of the other three. I did not do anything, something strange to me moved me all the time in the necessary direction .
It is the Camino de Santiago and they deserved it !
Dear John, I dedicate this true story to you, I know you would like to know one more story of the Camino.
Thank you!!!
Gabriel and Anita
Brierley loves the Camino, and that's why I'm writing this. It is a true and strange story that happened to me, and that I think deserves to be told, I think that this is the best moment and the best person, it is a story of the Camino.
It's been over two years, and I've barely counted it. The fact of being part of history myself makes me hardly ever talk about it, only when I sometimes talk about what we call The Miracles of the Camino, those special things that are difficult to explain logically that happen on the Camino to people who they really love the Camino, they enjoy it even with physically suffering from very strong pain and they walk, and they enter the albergues with a big smile.
I don't want to tell something that I did, but something that happened and of which I was a part.
One Saturday a French man called me to make a reservation for the next day. But he told me that perhaps they would not arrive because his wife had severe pain in her knees, and possibly they would stop in Boadilla.
Very good, I told him. If you stop, just call me by phone on time and I cancel the reservation.
But they arrived at thealbergue, accompanied by two other new friends, also French.
Sitting in front of me at the reception, while I was filling out the Civil Guard form, I asked her how she was doing, and he replied that it was very bad, but without really knowing why she had to come to the albergue. They could have stopped in Boadilla, six kilometers before Frómista, but "she had" to get to this albergue.
First thing illogical, in her state she should have stopped earlier.
We didn't talk much that afternoon. But I did talk to one of the friends, a very nice and interesting man, a mountain guide in the French Alps. In the afternoon he visited my studio, he didn't know how to draw but he liked my drawings. This made that at night, when he went to bed, without knowing why it occurred to me to ask him if he would like a drawing class with me the next day. He replied that a lot but that he did not dare to ask me in the afternoon..., I offered him the free class, he would only have to pay for the bed, and the next day, Monday morning, I would take him by car to the albergue where they were their friends, so as not to lose them. We had an unforgettable Sunday, drawing class, two hours, and a very interesting afternoon with Sebastien. A great man!!.
It was the second illogical thing
When around 9 in the morning we all met at the door of the Albergue Santa Clara, we talked about things, I reminded them that miracles exist on the Camino, and I told them something that happened to Anita and me on our second Camino in the year 2000. Nothing important really. And, when we were saying goodbye, I told them: “if from here to Santiago, at any time, no matter where or when, you have a problem, call me, you know how to reach me”. We smile and say goodbye. I've never said something like that to anyone before, it's almost absurd! It even seemed strange to me. There is always someone closer who can do the same, so it is absurd to say so. It is true that I speak French correctly, which is important to solve problems over the phone...
Third illogical thing.
Four hours later, around 1:30 p.m., she called me on the phone. And she told me: "Hello Gabriel, Louis has fallen to the ground, he has a lot of stomach pain and we don't know what to do." She told me that he had eaten a sandwich and maybe he was intoxicated. I asked her a few more questions about his condition, she gave me the exact position, and I told her to wait there, that I would call the 112 emergency service. In less than two minutes I spoke to two people, the second a doctor, I told him everything that I knew and told me that they would call an ambulance immediately. Less than ten minutes later they called me to say that they were already on their way to the Hospital de Palencia. Very good, all very efficient and fast, I thought.
At night she called me on the phone, she told me that they had arrived at the hospital, that they were waiting for them at the door, that they operated on him urgently because he had about half an hour to live… he had a very serious and strange intestinal infection.
Ok, now come my three questions:
-Why did she come to the albergue without knowing why, it being absurd for her not to stay in Boadilla?
-Why did I offer a free drawing class to someone who didn't ask me, nor did he give me signs that he was interested in learning to draw? That class was the reason for going to Carrión and seeing them again...
-Why did I tell them to call me on the phone if they needed something? That phrase was what made them call me at that moment. If they hadn't and waited for it all to go away, it would have been very different.
My explanation of why it happened the way it did:
They loved the Camino, and what I have seen many times in the albergue is that the Camino, or Santiago, for those who really love the Camino with all that it entails, good and bad, solves difficult situations, perhaps not always, without a doubt, but many times, more than statistics can justify.
It is a true story of the Camino.
Still today, now, I have written in pencil the kilometer point where they were and her phone number, I wrote them when she called me on my work table in my engraving studio in the albergue. I have no intention of deleting them. And I know that it was a force outside of me that moved everything so that everything that happened happened, from the moment they chose my albergue and not one of the other three. I did not do anything, something strange to me moved me all the time in the necessary direction .
It is the Camino de Santiago and they deserved it !
Dear John, I dedicate this true story to you, I know you would like to know one more story of the Camino.
Thank you!!!
Gabriel and Anita
. . . . . . . . .
My take on it is that God, the Holy Spirit moves around this world and uses those with open hearts in ways that are unrecognizable to us. Those pure in heart are able to later see the chain of events. Perhaps not as they unfold but later through time in reflection. I’ve had many occasions to such happenings in my life. Once I saw the light, I saw my story unfold. You are a blessed man. Thank you for your efforts and hospitality to all the pilgrims who cross the threshold of your albergue. God Bless and Buen Camino. 
