It been a little bit of a disquieting time; Rusty passing, arriving in Santiago, reconnecting with Troy (we had been traveling separate for two weeks), walking to the “end of the world,” hanging in Finisterra, and now walking again for the last time before returning to USA. I feel discombobulated, ungrounded. I am still crying at almost anything including this most awesome German Shepard that insisted that I stop and spend time with him; he looked at me with those Rusty eyes and I just stopped everything to pet him. 

It is always challenging to end a vacation and this one has its own special challenges. The simplicity of this life will be missed; I get up, I put on my boots, I start walking and I follow the arrows.  I often wonder how I will incorporate the lessons of The Camino into my life; what can be simplified? Is it our lives (i.e. the activities and things) that need to be simplified or just our attitude toward life. My guess is it’s the latter.  But what does it mean to approach life with a simpler attitude? Less drama, more acceptance, more grounded in the moment, less worry about things you cannot control (which is everything), etc. 

theBuddhists say that ALL attachments lead to suffering, not just attachments to material pocessions, or people, but attachment to worry, to goals, to “needs” etc.  I do not interpret this to mean that we are not supposed to love, or to have goals/plans, etc, but that we are not to be prisoners to our loves, our goals, our desires. I understand this to mean that we should revel in the beauty of loving, but not become a prisoner to its power.  Or, that it is fine to make plans and goals, but don’t be controlled by them, be ready to change plans at any given moment. This has been well practiced on The Camino and I am hopeful can be brought home to Annapolis.

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