There is a blog that I read yesterday, Walking Woman – Walking With Kate. In it I learned something new. And it was the notion that your Camino starts with your initial intention. I know that we could say St John Pied de Port or we could say that our Camino starts when we reach the Cathedral in Santiago. Yes, and each gives us a certain way to look at it.

If you say that I started in SJPdP you are saying it simply, basically, this is were my boots first hit the ground. When I watch Phil’s Camino the film I am always moved by the scene of Kelly and myself on our first day. “OK, boys and girls, up an over the Pyrenees.” Yea, we all have a survival story about the first day. And that gives us a way to look at the Camino. To me that was mostly about conquering or overcoming.

And if I think about my Camino starting when I got to St James with all that conquering and overcoming it is different. And when I got that far it was the Camino that actually conquered me, that overcame me. And it was acknowledging that fact and now the question of what do I do with that? That was the beginning of the whole reentry phase which was a difinite journey. And I am still on that journey.

But what happens when I think as Kate does that it started with my intention to walk. I don’t remember an exact moment on that. But maybe three things were in place. One, I had seen “The Way” and that was fermenting in there somewhere. Two, I was already walking some as I said my daily rosary. Three, I needed an exercise program that I could live with for my cancer rehab. And that had requirements of being compatible with my rehab program, being outdoors, being close by and having no machines. Somewhere in there was the intention.

But it was more at that point than “just wanting to exercise” as I said I in the film. There I think I was answering the question, “Did you think that this was training for going to Spain?” Obviously, there was more going on here at Phil’s Camino the trail than exercise. I was out to try and capture the experience somehow or at least to taste it.

Yup, that’s the way it seems. I like all three of those ways of looking at it. It all encourages some thinking and soul searching.

OK, here I go to get on with Saturday. Always good to be with you, Camino loves, Felipe.x