How a Thought Became a Thing

Photo of Joe, Karin and Ray, October 2007

I had the most bizarre dream earlier in the week. In that dream, I was on Camino, having just arrived at the refugio. I began laying out things from my backpack on the bed when I realized I didn't really bring anything. Basically, I only had the kind of things that would be in a day pack. From there, the dream went totally into dreamworld. The people I was traveling with didn't bring much of anything either and though there was some sort of plot to this dream, I really don't remember much of it.

I'm certain the dream came about because I finally made up my mind last weekend that I would do another Camino. So to help get me in the mood, I had just started reading yet another book about someone's Camino experience. Reading in bed, to me, is one of life's true little luxuries!

Now as for what that dream meant, I'm still trying to figure it out!

So much has occurred in my life since that first hike last November. But that's another blog for another day. One certainty is that a year ago, I would never have considered heading out on Camino on my own, no matter how much that article I had read in Der Spiegel kept hanging on the edge of my mind. As it turns out, going alone never even had to be considered.

In response to that flurry of e-mails following that first hike on the Pinnacle, Karin writes that she had always wanted to go on Camino. I stared at the computer screen, reading those words over and over. Suddenly, the Camino stopped being one of those crazy things you throw out there, like leaving work at lunchtime to hit the Appalachian Trail with nothing but an apple and a few bags of dry oatmeal. Or something that's on the "bucket list" of things you want to do before you die. With Karin's words, the Camino morphed from ether to substance. A thought became a thing!

Karin and I sent a few e-mails back and forth, I guess more than anything to confirm that the other was serious. Then at some point, Joe hopped on board. Though Karin still wasn’t sure whether her husband would go, the three of us kind of firmed up plans, at least to the extent that we would do Camino. Where, when and how were questions still to be answered.

I’ve put the link to the Wikipedia article about the Camino Santiago here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James>