Falling Awake: Opening our souls rather than our eyes.

One behalf of my family and me, I wanted to thank you all for the generous and kind condolences following yesterday’s loss my my beloved 92 yo mother.  While body was weak, and her dementia advanced, I was comforted to hear how my brother Enrique was with her, and that she passed painless.   The loss of a parent is always a shock, particularly for those of us who are separated by many miles and an ocean from our parents.  But feeling blessed to have spent a few weeks in Lima with her just last month.  I look back on those days as a gift, a gift which I will cherish for many years.   When my father passed away just 13 months ago, we all reunited in Lima to grieve as one. And while we are all clearly grieving following her loss, my travel to Lima has been complicated; not by distance, time or cost, but by a calling.   Perhaps I should explain.   While I was walking solo on El Camino yesterday, before the fateful news of my mother’s departure...

Second week finished, with three more to go.  And of my calculations are right, am in my second third of El Camino.  I only mention this as I heard a wonderful description earlier.  They said how the first third is one of physical exhaustion, or getting our bodies into its rhythm.  The second third is about “letting go”, while the final third is about understanding what El Camino has taught us.  I like this, not because I look forward to the final third, but because I too am learning to let go of certain things.  Perhaps I should explain.  As many of you know already, however, I found these two days in bed excruciating inasmuch sitting-still was never my thing.  Use to annoy the hell out of my parents and teachers when they sent me to my room/corner as punishment given I’d annoy them more than for the reason I was being punished in the first place.  My frustration was all the worse given my room in the Albergue would overlook El Camino, ...