Day 13

Why does day 13 keep disappearing? Literally one of the most important days of this trip! 😳

Well, I had hoped that this post would miraculously show up, but it hasn’t. I don’t know how I can rewrite it in the quality or with the memory of the first or second version, but I guess I’ll have to try. 

We woke up very early, and everyone began pouring out of the alburgue into the dark streets of Logroño. Deb had left a few minutes earlier, so I was walking with a group of people. As we fell into pace, everyone found their place amongst the crowd.

Chloe’s family walks a bit faster than her, so I walked with her. We knew that we had a 13-14 mile day ahead. There was no point in rushing. I had already made reservations at an alburgue for Deb and I, so we had a bed.

As I walked with Chloe through the day, several people approached us and walked with us for a while. I noticed a similar pattern emerge in the conversations. Each person found themselves asking Chloe about her life decision to avow herself to chastity, obedience, and poverty. What would lead a young lady in 2018 to decide to become a nun? Calmly and repeatedly, Chloe talked of her plans, how she came to her conclusions and what that would mean for her life. People wanted to know: can you get out of it if you want? Apparently, it takes a full eight years to reach the vows, and there is constant reflection along the way. 

After hearing why Chloe wanted to dedicate her life to religion, each person, as though it were a script, unsolicited, shared what their own philosophies around religion were. We heard everything from agnostic, Pentecostal, and God is in me and I have my own wisdom. It was very interesting. What I noticed most of all is how Chloe didn’t offer any religious feedback to people. She just listened. 

When I stopped to check my foot pain, Chloe opened her bag and offered her supplies to me to deal with my terrible blister.

People who know me well know that I have had my experiences with religion. I have been seeking my own truths for my whole life, from confirmed Catholic at 18 to church every week for decades, when I believed that was the right way. Most recently, I have left the church body because primarily those who I find there are far less kind and loving than those who I find just living life. I have determined that I can do more good and be more touched by God outside of the church building than inside.

On this trip I have had a revelation. The people who exemplify God are being redefined for me. Chloe is young, but has such a pure and inspiring heart. Her mom, Tammy, so intimate with her mortality, chooses to spend her last days carrying a backpack with her four children, waking the Camino. Christy (Canada) was separated from her husband, recommitted and then went through literally years of debilitating illness. These are the people of God. This is how I want to define Gods people in my mind from here on out.

It was a long walking day. I experienced pain. A lot of pain. When I got to the albergue, I learned that Deb moved on, and I would be there alone that night. 

I went to a restaurant and was offered ice for my knees, given a bottle of wine when I ordered a glass and a huge chicken sandwich. I thought, reflected, contemplated and cried. 

This, my friends, is the Camino.