Emptying And Filling

10 Comments
Taking time to smell the roses,
(photo K Burke)

“Blessed are you pilgrim if your backpack is emptying of things and your heart does not know where to hang up so many feelings and emotions.” That’s number five of our ten Beatitudes. I think that we can all relate to this one pretty easily.

We went with less stuff than we normally have in our day to day lives, a lot less and it was still too much. So we gave some away and left some and threw some out. We jettisoned, we had to. Then we lost some things and left some clothes on the line. At some point the weight became more manageable. Of course we were getting stronger in a number of ways and that helped.

And as we thought and worried less about that we had more time and energy to take in the sights and the sounds around us. We fell in love with everything. Everything was fair game to fall in love with. We were kids in the proverbial candy store and we had the currency of the kingdom. And there reached a point where, yes, I didn’t know where to put things. I was full and just wanted to sit somewhere and cry. And it was the opposite of sadness but I laughed and cried and cried and laughed trying to adjust.

There came to be a richness that I wasn’t used to. It was crazy and overwhelming. Yes and that richness included pain and discomfort and hunger and thirst and sometimes sadness. But it all seemed to have a rationality of it’s own, it all made sense and was natural. And our backpack or our beings became full to overflowing with things that we found there.

And fortunately like women who in the memories of the highs of childbirth tend to minimize the memories of the pain, the same happens to us. We tend to downplay the hard grind and the sharp pains and they are largely forgotten. But the richness remains.

overflowing loves, Felipé.

10 thoughts on “Emptying And Filling”

  1. “We fell in love with everything. Everything was fair game to fall in love with. We were kids in the proverbial candy store and we had the currency of the kingdom. And there reached a point where, yes, I didn’t know where to put things. I was full and just wanted to sit somewhere and cry. And it was the opposite of sadness but I laughed and cried and cried and laughed trying to adjust.”

    Pure poetics Felipe… pretty much nailed it on this one. Bless you!!!!

    1. Catherine ~ wow, high praise and misdemeanors from Dr J! Thanks! Guess I was just feeling it. Felipé.x

      1. Hola, Catherine!
        You fleet fingered thing, you! You beat me to the starting line, let along the finish line! I had already “copy” this perfect prose, and was moving to the “paste” phase, and wallah! You’ve got it done,

        “There came to be a richness that I wasn’t used to. It was crazy and overwhelming. Yes and that richness included pain and discomfort and hunger and thirst and sometimes sadness. But it all seemed to have a rationality of it’s own, it all made sense and was natural. And our backpack or our beings became full to overflowing with things that we found there.”

        This one needs to be in the front of the Veranda booklet. 🙂

        Semper Fi,
        PFJ

        1. I agree with Catherine and with PFJ… what a post!!! And definitely YES! We have to have this written somewhere… <3

  2. Phil, I agree with Catherine–this is poetic. The whole passage sings. I like the line, “we lost some things and left some clothes on the line.” Katherine and I left behind knitting needles and big balls of yarn, coloring books and markers, a cribbage board . . . . (what were we thinking?) The lighter our packs, the lighter our step.

    My favorite book in preparing for the Camino was Jean Ashmore’s “To Travel Far, Pack Light.” The title itself is a metaphor for life. Ashmore says, “we pack for what we fear” and for “just in case.” Now to turn that same attention to the boxes in my garage and barn.

    Packing light, letting go loves,
    Henriette Anne

    1. Henriette ~ I just guess I was feeling it this morning. So resinate with these beatitudes. Got high grades from Catherine. And yes, this one really applies to our afterlives (after Camino)for sure. Felipé.x

  3. That is precisely how it was, Felipe, and still is. I remember writing to my family in 2014 that the Camino really flays you, physically, mentally and emotionally and that it will always be one of the highlights of my life.
    Alperfect and overflowing loves,
    Mary Margaret

Comments are closed.