(photo Looks like W Hayes)
The Camino of Life
There are times when we begin a journey or adventure and we have some sense of where it will be going. Some details may be clear, others fuzzy, but we begin by taking those very important first steps. There is usually excitement, sometimes a little fear, or a combination of these and other emotions. For me at this time there is a sadness and disappointment for a journey that will not be.
It was almost a year ago that Phil and Rebecca opened their home for the first ever Caminohead Veranda. A four day event which brought people from all over the USA and the world to a small island off the coast of Washington State. It was a celebration and a gathering of all things Camino. You could say it was the first official Caminohead event sponsored by Raven Ranch. Some came for an hour while others stayed the entire 4 days but by the end over 45 people attended and most participated in planned events, field trips, a special viewing of Phil’s Camino and of course spontaneous gatherings of tapas and fire pit talks. There was also the helpful rotations of food prep crews and cooks along with a fresh Phil corn feast each night.
As the gathering began to wind down it became evident that many wanted an encore event. Inquiries were made, details discussed, and dates were determined.
August 21-24, 2020
Many of us etched these dates in our calendars.
These dates are now one week away and sadly none of us ever anticipated an event or situation that could possibly threaten our second beloved Veranda from happening. Yet here we are.
With the exception of a few of Phil’s neighbors who may come by for a smaller corn feast, the rest of us our relegated to our lives at home.
In honor of the second annual Veranda I am asking those who have walked the Camino (or for those of you who haven’t) to share your favorite Camino experience or favorite Camino story in the comments below. If we cannot be together at Raven Ranch this year, let’s join together in spirit and honor the essence of the Veranda here with online camaraderie.
Rho
SWCBC
(Thank you Rho. We did have fun! Well, there is always next year! Felipé.x)
You are welcome Felipe, and what are the Veranda dates for 2021? We can start planning now!
😊
Rho ~ that’s Friday August 20th thru Monday August 23rd. How fun! Felipé.x
Thanks, Rho! I am not going to share about the Camino, but about the Veranda… if I may! May I?
For me, the Veranda started an afternoon in my office, when I exchanged several emails with Phil and Pilgrim Farmer John and the idea of the get-together was born… that was on 14Sep2018… and I actually have a picture of the moment… This is why, the best moment of the Veranda for me was when I saw Phil’s truck in the exit of the ferry in Vashon Island… Wednesday 21st August 2018, 341 days after. I think I broke Phil’s ribs with my hug, although his stamina was so high too that I think that is why he said nothing.
I could quote 100 moments that were memorable, but that in addition to memorable was priceless.
Veranda 2019 Loves,
Cris
The event sounds wonderful. It is on my bucket list to walk Phil’s Camino in preparation for Santiago. I have a willing group of friends and family who want to make this journey with me. Time will hopefully be on my side. Currently walking about 5 miles per day at my home Camino with my precious companion “SeaSea” who is a 2 year old golden retriever. My current nemesis is neuropathy which is a terrible side effect from a chemo drug called Cisplatin along with some bad proteins. Current physical status is strong and hopeful. Dealing with Stage 4 laryngeal cancer and a blood cancer called Waldenstroms Macroglobulinenemia (mouthful 😊). Finished radiation, chemotherapy and a clinical trial drug 14 months ago and just recently 6 infusions of Rituximab for the neuropathy. I know many who have rejoiced at St James and pray to do the same. I have accepted this great gift of an abundant life and thank the Ultimate Physician for everything. You wouldn’t believe how long my Gratitude list is😌. I look forward to being part of your fellowship and thank my sister Marianne and the Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation for my introduction to Phil 🙏
Jay ~ you are already part of our fellowship or we call it our neighborhood. We appreciate your gratitude and positivity Jay. Felipé.
Welcome, Jay! I am Cris, one of the Caminoheads Bureau Chiefs, in my case assigned to the South American Bureau, as I am in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
We are happy you are here! You couldn’t have arrived to a better blogosphere (although we use the word “neighborhood”!!!) Be ready to buy a 100 pages notes book as your gratitude list will become even longer in the Caminoheads and Phil’s Camino community. If you don’t find gratitude, mind you, you will find lots of fun but I guarantee you we are good at both!!!
Pilgrims Love
Cris
At the end of the Pilgrim Mass in Santiago, with an Archbishop presiding, he reminded us that while our walk was finished, our Camino was just beginning. The painful reality of our country’s history of deep-seated racism, it’s unabashed killing, torture, and brutal mistreatment of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, along with my own growing awareness of how I have benefitted, and continue to benefit, from a system of white supremacy, and how my white silence and inaction makes me complicit, has been very emotional, disconcerting, spiritually troubling, and stands in stark relief to my experience walking the Camino. In Spain we pilgrims shared everything. If someone was in need, a host of other pilgrims appeared to help and support. We were from all over the world, we wore different colored skin from one another, but we were united in our common effort – walking. So, I ask myself daily, how can I walk this day, lift up a non-white person, speak out, or act on their behalf? Each morning on the Camino, upon rising, I said a prayer of gratitude and set an intention for the day. It is no different now. The way we are walking as a country is long, longer that 800 km and there are few yellow arrows to mark our way, but as the educator, Paulo Freire wrote: “We will make the way by walking.” If we could gather for the Veranda these are the concerns I would bring to our wisdom fire. (Along with an ear of Phil’s sweet corn for roasting of course.) Thank you Rho for the invitation to contribute here. The other thing the Archbishop said that day in Santiago, after he blessed us: “Adelante, requerda la gratitud.” “Go forward, remember gratitude. Gracias, gracias, gracias.”
Dear Catherine,
This is a very powerful reflection… there are a few statements you made that, to me, show the way out of this situation but unfortunately, the pandemic is showing how difficult it is for most to take those steps even in a situation of danger for our own life and the lives of the others… One of them is that this change will be slow… your Paulo Freire’s quote tells that (and his experience too): it is walking that we get there, no highways.
The other thing, very much from the Camino experience, is that: in the Camino, we were first foreigners -even me, who speaks the language and coming from a country so very much tied to and close to Spain, was a foreigner-, and in that being a “foreigner”, we had no other choice to rely on the other to try to understand us, to host us, to feed us, to help us with a medical issue, or a practical issue, to lend us something, to encourage us… and I could go on. When we experience first hand how is it like to need the others for survival and thrive, the experience changes completely. It would be so important that every citizen of this world is sent out to a “bootcamp” as Phil calls it… and have a experience like this. How are we able to return from such a place and not be changed by the experience? Then is when the Archbishop words makes lots of sense… with the gratitude for that helping hands in mind, our steps forward would be so different…
So grateful for your presence in my life.
Love you,
Cris