Wild and Precious

I decided that I wanted to have one thing to center upon while I’m walking the Camino. We’ve given the students a list of queries (in Quaker tradition) for them to think about and I will reflect on them as well. But I wanted something more for me. It came to me from a dear and long-time friend who sent me a few lines from a Mary Oliver’s  poem A Summer Day,  knowing that they would speak to me: 

Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life? Continue reading

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Less Is Less

Packing for the Camino. It is more difficult than I thought it would be to pare down to the bare necessities. It is essential that the backpack be light enough for my back to bear it and that means giving up many things that I’m used to.  I never considered myself a particularly vain woman until I began to realize how many of my daily routines centered upon looking a certain way. There are age spots to conceal, lashes to elongate, eyebrows to be plucked, hair to be made presentable, outfits to disguise saddle bags and muffin tops.  Achieving my presentable self requires creams, tools, liquids, specific textiles and small appliances. (If you need appliances to assist in your daily self-esteem boost, you’re prissier than you think.) Continue reading

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Accidental Pilgrim

I have had a long love affair with Spain. It began in college when I lived and studied in Spain, and I’ve nurtured the affair over the years visiting numerous times. In all the visits to my beloved, I have never walked the Camino de Santiago – the Way of St. James. I’d heard of it, of course, and thought it sounded like an interesting thing to do, but never spent an ounce of energy trying to make it happen, even though I’ve been to Santiago and visited the cathedral that is our final destination. But when I was asked to be a co-chaperone on the Spanish exchange trip offered to high school students at the school where I work, I could not pass up the opportunity. Part of the exchange experience will be to walk the last ‘leg’ (70 miles or so) of the Camino.

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain tourism destinations

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