MeanPhilippine
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- April-May 2016
Does anyone else feel that you don't choose the Camino, it chooses you? At first the reason to go on my Camino was to check it off my bucket list. I've been backpacking for a long time and been on many trails, short and long.
The Camino to me was just another adventure that I thought was "cool". It wasn't spiritual anything spiritual or anything meaningful other than a bragging right.
Well two weeks ago a good friend, whom I served with in the military, told me he was diagnosed of stage 4 colon cancer. Before he told me about his health I told him that I was going to walk the Camino de Santiago. He was excited for me and then asked me to light a candle for him in Santiago. He is a devout Catholic and I thought that was the reason why he asked me; until he said that his health haven't been all that well. That's when he told me about his cancer.
What I'm trying to say is that now my Camino has a deeper and greater purpose. It's no longer just a trip to check off from my bucket list. The fact that we're the same age, 50 yrs young, made me realize that my Camino is also a gesture to appreciate my blessings regarding my own health, my children and that I'm still around after retiring from 23 yrs of military service.
I will do my best to light a candle for my friend in every church along the Camino, all the way to Santiago.
The Camino to me was just another adventure that I thought was "cool". It wasn't spiritual anything spiritual or anything meaningful other than a bragging right.
Well two weeks ago a good friend, whom I served with in the military, told me he was diagnosed of stage 4 colon cancer. Before he told me about his health I told him that I was going to walk the Camino de Santiago. He was excited for me and then asked me to light a candle for him in Santiago. He is a devout Catholic and I thought that was the reason why he asked me; until he said that his health haven't been all that well. That's when he told me about his cancer.
What I'm trying to say is that now my Camino has a deeper and greater purpose. It's no longer just a trip to check off from my bucket list. The fact that we're the same age, 50 yrs young, made me realize that my Camino is also a gesture to appreciate my blessings regarding my own health, my children and that I'm still around after retiring from 23 yrs of military service.
I will do my best to light a candle for my friend in every church along the Camino, all the way to Santiago.