Day 43: Learning to say Goodbye... The end of my Camino


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Europe » Spain » Galicia » Santiago de Compostela
May 13th 2012
Published: February 10th 2013
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Journal Entry---------------------

Sunday May 13th, 2012

In the morning there was a knock on my door. I opened it and no one was there. I left the door open and started to gather my belongings. Angel came into my room and said good morning. He waited and lingered in my room as I finished packing up my stuff. I could tell that he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. I felt the same way.

We walked outside and stopped after a while on a corner and we decided that it was time to say goodbye. I decided it would be best not to go with them back to Madrid but to wait here in Santiago for another day and see if I can find Molly.

The goodbye was tough. My heart broke four times. I have never had such amazing friends that are so different than I. Here we are, not close in age, don't speak the same language, live in different countries, but we made a connection. It's such a beautiful thing. They loved me for who I am even though I didn't have makeup on, wore the same gross outfit every single
day and always had messy hair. They saw me for who I am and I saw them for who they are.

After they left I wandered back to the pension, picked up my key and went back in and took a nap. I knew that Molly would go to the mass at noon today so I went to the Cathedral at 1130am and waited to try to catch her going in. I didn't see her and at noon I decided not to go into mass but to wait outside so that I wouldn't miss her. I waited and waited.

Then Laura, a Spanish girl that I had met came up to me and hugged me. We talked for a bit and I told her that I was waiting to see if I could find Molly. I told her that I was so worried that she would leave by another door and that I would miss her. Laura told me something so beautiful. She said, "Jennafer, don't worry about the door. Things happen as they should. Wait here nad she will come."

At 1:30pm I spotted Molly outside of the Cathedral. I jumped up from where I was sitting, ran to her and hugged her. I couldn't stop crying. I was so very happy!

We went out to lunch together with her three German friends, a girl from Austria and a woman from Africa. Then I decided to stay in the same albergue with them. Molly and I walked around the streets together talking about our time apart.

Molly talked about how badly she wished that she could've seem Danielle from Holland again. After ten minutes we sat down and no other than Danielle walked by!!! The Camino is amazing like that. Day after day things like this happen. It truly is magic. Simply... amazing.

--------------------end of journal




When I first started researching the Camino, I heard tales of the Camino being magical. I laughed at the thought of something being called magical, and yet here I am writing this almost one year later and I will tell you, the Camino is in fact magical.

Whenever I was lonely, a new friend would appear and start talking with me and walk with me for a while.

Whenever I was in pain someone would stop me and adjust my pack for me, provide me with a compheed for my blisters, or give me ibuprofen for my aches.

When I was feeling like I could not go on anymore, the sun would shine and show me the most amazing scenes that were hidden just steps away in front of me.

Whenever I was hungry and had no snack left in my pack someone would stop and offer me something to eat or drink.

I had lost Sara on that last day walking together and decided to go into one of the five albergues in town and sit and wait on a bed to come up with a plan to find her and low and behold, fifteen minutes later she appeared frantically searching for me.

When I missed my Spanish friends and wanted to see them again, they appeared.

When I wished that I could see Molly again I spotted her at the Cathedral.

When Molly and I wished we could see Danielle again, she walked right past us.

*******And last and most important... I walked the Camino not knowing why I was doing it. It wasn't until I came home that I learned the reason I was called to the Camino. My Aunt had battled cancer that was months within taking her life and beat it. This was two years before I walked the Camino. While on the Camino she was diagnosed with leukemia and because her chances were so slim she decided not to fight this time. I had learned the hardest lesson to learn on the Camino, I learned to say goodbye to people. And now I would have to put it into practice on a much larger scale. I had to learn to be okay with saying goodbye and learn to be strong for my family. It was a hard lesson to learn, but I am thankful every single day that the Camino called me to walk because in a way, it had prepared me for this.

I honestly can say that my eyes have been opened. The Camino is magical.

The people that I have met on the Camino have not changed who I am, but have enhanced who I am and have encouraged me to be the person that I have always strived to be. They have continued to impact my life every single day since the first time I have met each and every single one of them. It is hard to put into words all that I have learned from my new friends from all over the world.

Open your eyes, make connections, let go of prejudice, be willing to learn, be willing to simply not know and you will find that the world is good, that people are good and everywhere you go you will see things and experience things that you had never known before. You will find what you never knew you lost and you will feel complete. The universe will simply fall into place as it should.

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20th May 2013

Fantastic blogs my friends
We will be looking forward to your great adventure in 2014. Keep up the good work.
21st May 2013

Thanks!! I stumbled across your blogs before I even decided to join Travel Blog and have enjoyed them for the past few years now. It was actually through your blogs that I first fell in love with the idea of traveling through SE Asia :).
11th July 2014

I've truly enjoyed reading your blogs...
and wondered if you could go on with all the pain. Each pilgrim learns a different lesson, and I think yours was the one you needed to learn. Everyone shares similar stories about those they bond with on the Camino, and how happy and sad they are to finish...truly magical.
13th July 2014

Thank you
At first I was nervous about sharing my raw emotions on a blog, but looking back I am so glad that I did. Thank you for reading them! Hopefully I didn't scare you away from the Camino. I had a lot of physical problems, but in the end it was the most amazing experience of my life. Truly worth it!! Actually, now on my husband and I's RTW we are most likely going to walk another Camino... Still trying to decide which one though...

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