You know things are serious when the ironing board comes out. Packing is getting in high gear for a visit to Julian Dubuque and his fabulous film festival. Little did Julian know what he got started way back then.
Ellen from Ontario just emailed in this inspirational story and thought you needed to hear it and maybe work it into your day:
The New High School Teacher
After retiring, a former Gunnery Sergeant in the Canadian Army took a new job as a high school teacher. Just before the school year started, he injured his back. He was required to wear a light plaster cast around the upper part of his body. Fortunately, the cast fit under his shirt and wasn’t noticeable when he wore his suit coat.
On the first day of class, he found himself assigned to the toughest students in the school. The smart-ass punks, having already heard the new teacher was a former soldier, were leery of him and he knew they would be testing his discipline in the classroom. Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, the new teacher opened the window wide and sat down at his desk.
With a strong breeze blowing it made his tie flap. He picked up a stapler and stapled the tie to his chest.
Dead silence .
The rest of the year went smoothly.
There is an effective use of creativity right there, cost one staple, effect priceless. Love that guy. You looking for an example of a good mentor, there is one there.
Well, I’m inspired. Off to met Julian, that is exactly what I needed. So, I will be blogging from the great state of Iowa in the next few days and keep you up to date on happenings.
But for now, off to iron a few shirts. Get out there today and get creative will ya! Love, Felipe.
One aspect of a blog that is difficult for the new reader is getting a grip on the flow. I can’t explain everything everyday nor can I completely run endlessly on without thought for people just coming in. It’s a balance. So, I thought today that I would try and run through the last two years of this blog and give an overview that might be helpful to folks joining in. And hopefully there will be new folks checking us out as I network at the Julian Dubuque Film Festival this coming weekend.
Basically this blog boils down to the three C’s and those are Cancer, Catholicism and Camino. If I can give you a quick paragraph on each then I think you will understand the flow and be up to speed. These three C’s are so entangled and related that it is impossible to totally separate them, just for beginners.
So, Cancer first. My software keeps capitalizing it and I usually try and correct that but maybe I will leave it for today. I originally got my colon cancer diagnosis back in 2012, had surgery, had some chemo, had some rehab and then a year off. At that point I had a 70% chance that it would not come back. It was stage two at that point. But it did show up in my lungs and liver and that put me in the stage four club. So, back on chemotherapy and back to rehab. I have two incredible doctors and their teams at Swedish Cancer Institute. One my oncologist, Phil Gold, code name “Nugget” I say keeps me alive and my Rehabilitation Doc, David Zucker, code name “Danger Zone” I say put me on the map. Both are vital to this story. So, the situation at present is that there is a rough truce going on, where the tumors have disappeared from my liver but still remain in my lungs but are showing mimimal growth. So, the threat is real but larglely potential, looming but not exactly imminent. This is the delicate truce as it exists today.
Somewhere during this time I converted to Roman Catholicism and am totally happy with that choice. It was my dear mother’s heritage and I join in now to it after her death. So, I was searching for a place that was substantial and had resources to help me in my journey. Father Marc is my wonderful local padre and I have been lucky to have Sister Joyce as my Spiritual Advisor. And part of this mix is having our neighbor Catherine to be my Mass buddy, she is also a great Caminohead and Tailgate Teologist.
OK, we got two out of three. So, last but not least is the Camino which is deeply entertwined with my cancer and my faith. For me originally I needed a way to exercise outside of the machines at the local health club. I came across the idea of “walking across Spain” in my backyard after watching “The Way” and needing an exercise program. This gave me a structure and it gave me flexibility in that I could walk further by the week as I got stronger or I could cut back if the chemo was bothersome. I began to study the Camino de Santiago and that lead me to seeing the Camino documentary “Walking the Camino” by Lydia B. Smith and Annie O’Neil. Then magically Annie and I teamed up to try and tell this whole story in film and that came true with the documentary “Phil’s Camino”.
Ah, there. So, now the blog has been running for two years in May. It has various periods to it that might be helpful to mention. May 2014 through July 2014 was preSpain and full of prep for going. Late July and August 2014 the blog came out everyday from Spain along the dusty trail. Then some of the best writing takes place during my reentry period which is late Aug through September and on for three or four months. And then finally the blog as it exists today is about keeping the flame alive. How to walk the Camino after we walk the Camino so to speak.
OK, that should do it. I have to read Terry Hershey and Richard Rohr and then get to work. The best to you, love, Felipe.
We are there even when we aren’t there, so to speak.
Had a great walk today. Good folks and maximum weather make for a winning combo. Then we had to dilly dally at tapas, of course. So, we are through Roblacion de Campos with about 8 km till Carrion de los Condes. Slowly we are making our way across the Meseta.
We are walking four times a week and keeping the flame alive. Come join us:
I don’t know if we were mediating or not but we were all lucky to be there!
Is that what we are doing? I saw this phrase on Richard Rohr’s blog recently. It was in between charismatic prayer and Zen chores in a list of activities that can actually change us and bring us closer to God. We certainly walk a lot. I’m not sure it’s all meditation but never the less somep of it is, I think.
Here it is Sunday morning and I will try and get this post finished for you. This is my funky weekend or my Pyrenees weekend. It is the low energy point in my chemo cycle and I am running at maybe 75% but running. it is simply a gorgeous day here so it is making up for all that.
Father Marc had a smashing homily today. He was talking about faith and risk and fear, big topics. Catherine and I sat out on the tailgate of my truck with a coffee afterward and talked it through. Catherine calls our conversations “tailgate theology”.
I have to run. Due over at Our Jennifer’s. We are trying to finish up her bathroom remodel project.
Alright, need to go and come back for our walk at 1600. Thanks for stopping by, love also, Felipe.
Anticipating beautiful blooms on My Rebecca’s Rose.
I have a really solid idea for what I want to have on my tombstone, that is, if I have a tombstone. What do people have these days? Anyway, how about, “Still walking!” I wanted to get rid of the finality and get more to the idea of a bridge to another venue.
I was inspired by this story on FB about this woman that wanted to be laid out in her casket with a fork in her hand. And viewers would obviously have to ask about the curious thing and receive her message. All during her life her favorite time was when at the end of dinner the announcement would be made to “hang onto your fork!” Nice, huh? Remember the anticipation of the coming of something sweet and special.
I don’t think about death too much maybe because I died ten thousand times playing army as a kid. That’s what boys did post World War Two, well in between getting run over by cars. And I was pointing this death thing out to my tumors the other day, saying , “Guys, you know that when I die you go too.” I was trying to point out the obvious benefit of getting together and dragging this thing out as long as possible.
Well, that’s my life today. But starting to think of packing for the next big venue of the great state of Iowa. But first, this is the day that the Lord has made, let us be grateful and rejoice in it! Big loves! Felipe!
Keep smiling and wearing your Phil’s Camino T-shirts!
Just getting done with all the moving parts of the day. Was up in the middle of the night meditating and writing and now I am paying for it. It was all a good idea at the time.
Got a library card today, amongst other things but maybe that is my big news. Well and hockey playoffs have started so things are good. But my hometown team the Buffalo Sabres didn’t make it in this year,boo.
I took My Rebecca to the airport this AM, early, to catch a flight to Memphis, TN. It’s her high school reunion but I won’t tell you which one, bigger than ten though. The dear just called and she is safe and sound at her brother ‘s having dinner. She is going to call and read me a Brian Doyle bedtime story out of Mink River. I’m a lucky guy. See you tomorrow, alperfect, love, Felipe.
Morning along the Camino in August 2014. Were we vulnerable? Vulnerable to learning something new is all.
I was outside early this AM and an active little worm was making his way across the cement cobble stones as I hurried over him but he caught my attention. This is similar to the “Why did the newt cross the road?” of a month ago I guess. Sometimes we are very vulnerable in our travels and there is not much to do about it is the story.
I was out on the highway yesterday and at one point was following a landscape truck with a load of rock. It wasn’t a dump truck but a flatbed with a wooden tailgate. The rocks were two man ones and piled up and their weight seemed to provide a certain security as they nestled together. The truck is going at sixty miles per hour and I am traveling at the same speed. All of a sudden the whole vision turned into a physics problem in my mind. What sort of disruption in this funky inertia would cause one of those boulders to wind up in my lap? It seemed like there were a lot of random factors waiting to pounce on the situation. It had an eerie resemblance to my life with cancer.
Needless to say I switched lanes and got ahead of him. I mean if you don’t have to be there then don’t, right? Not that hard. But I guess the general theme of this post today is our vulnerability and the willingness to keep going in spite of it. Damn the torpedoes, the robins, the two man rocks and all that stuff, full speed ahead.
At the hospital and about to get my chemo treatment. Just saw Our Jennifer a minute ago. We haven’t been able to keep the same schedules so I see her here randomly. Any break in the Groundhog Dayness of it all is a good thing though. OK, time to go. Love Phil.
I’m taking a little break from my routine to drive to Port Angeles, WA to pick up a friend. Port Angeles is on the wild and woolly Olympic Peninsula which lies to the west of Seattle, between there and the vast Pacific. Central on the peninsula are the Olympic Mountains and they are all within the Olympic National Park. A lot of trekking to be had out there.
The area is also home to Port Townsend a place that happens to have a film festival. It’s in September and hopefully we will be up there to be with Phil’s Camino. They have a big wooden boat festival every summer that attracts traditional boat folks from all over. Lot of cool stuff going on here in the area, get up here and bring some tourist dollars if you can. These outlying towns are hanging on by their teeth in these high tech days just like places in Spain that we saw.
There, now you know as much about it as I do. And back to the hospital tomorrow for treatment. Need to pick up some blueberries or strawberries for my nurses. I helps me get my butt in there if I know that I will have fun with them. Maybe Steve-O will show up to entertain me.
OK, kind of a haphazard blog post, maybe reflects my brain this AM. Well, make the most of it today, it’s one of a kind, right? Thinking of you there, love, Felipe.
Horse manure and cover crop on corn field. Getting ready!
From this viewpoint at the very beginning of Monday the week seems like a big blank canvas stretched out ahead of us. We want to make some progress down the trail. That would be good. We know things will come flying at us from various places. It would be good to be nimble and able to dodge some of those and take on the ones worthy of working with. And we need protection from some things that are too big to handle. Getting the week down to bite sized chunks would be a good thing. Will we have enough energy left over to inspire our selves and maybe someone else? Will we be able to use our creativity to come up with ideas that will be helpful that maybe didn’t exist yesterday?
This is what I am thinking about at the moment. Trying not to get overwhelmed by it all. That’s really first on the list, don’t get overwhelmed. So, yea, time to read the blogs from Rich Rohr and Terry Hershey, get recharged. Always good, love, Felipe.
Phil’s Law ~ no matter how much time you have to prepare a blog you will fall asleep in the process.
There that’s good. I knew there was a law in here somewhere, had to be. But the point is that I’m bushed. We had six folks come for the afternoon walk and tapas. Then some body brought some wine, well actually three people brought some wine. And pretty soon I am asleep on the couch, Bob’s Your Uncle.
Well, for sure tomorrow is another day. Walking again in the morning. Love
