Round 2 of the airfare booking process is nearing completion.
It's no trivial matter to leave behind a wife working full-time and two busy kids but it has to be done before the idea of the Camino disappears down the line.Jan 27th 2014As I sit here reviewing these entries some 16 months after receiving my compostela, my intention is to flesh out some of the memories that made it to this blog and to leave the original text in place because its imperfection is something to be happy with. So anything in italics is new! What was trivial at the time just prior to my camino was that something had to change. That was an absolute certainty because apart from Katherine who has so far been straight-forward to deal with, the rest of the family were causing me to implode. Only now in the short time since Andrew has left school are things becoming more manageable. Added to this Margaret has been making significant inroads into change on her own terms. She is generally a much more relaxed person these days and also free of the influence of menopause. In the days and weeks prior to flying out of Hobart, Margaret's only point of 'control' was to demand that our supply of firewood be completely split. I duly complied with her wishes to the point of nearly leaving my packing too late. I recall how I hurriedly packed my backpack in the last hour before my ride to the airport. It was a disorganised pack of too much stuff which I had hoped to cull down once or twice by then.
My journey began over a year ago in the haze of a really bad time with my son who I hoped would do the Camino with me. That venture ended with cost as I slipped into a mental and nervous breakdown, lost my airfare and train fares and bitterly disappointed my son. Now that I'm back on my feet it's time to restart the journey and close the loop. This time on my own as it's not the time for my son to go. So all being well I will get to post from the track as I also appropriate last year's purchases of kit.
I'm not a religious person except in the sense of being a devout agnostic. I am really a humanist though. I believe there is incredible potential as well as a lot of behaviour that needs to change all wrapped up in the human condition. Spirituality is a different matter and for this we are one with nature and the part of each other that is made of 'God stuff' whatever that is. I will respectfully allow others their own views except where those views are based on behaviours that contravene a person's dignity and integrity.
Friends are very important to me and I would like to dedicate this post to my good friend Richard McCaig who put together the http://www.dustytrack.com website about his journey on the Camino from Le Puy to Finisterre in 2010. I hope to see him again one day soon and chat about our respective Camino experiences over a wine or coffee or several.
Speaking of friends, my experience is that there are places in my heart inhabited by all my friends of old no matter whether they are still part of my contemporary life or not. In a way then they wil also be walking the Camino with me as I'm sure that they will 'visit with me' along the track. In the event though, I was far too captivated by each moment on the camino to even consider anything outside of that. There was a night in St Jean Pied de Port where I thought how much I would love to be in bed with Margaret and how much I wanted to create a gorgeous love nest for us. There were times of connection to the kids as well but beyond that the camino had me lock, stock and barrel.
Part of all this of course is posterity. I would like to leave something behind that matters to me in the form of a collection of writings or songs or whatever. In other words I wish to be known. I've had adventures in my life for sure, getting my pilot's licence in my twenties, having babies in my thirties with my wife Margaret. Moving my family to Tasmania in my forties and becoming a relationship counsellor in the process. Now that I'm back from the brink I want to make a journey that pays homage to the fact that I have always had this body of mine. I haven't always liked it or treated it well but I am now. In the words of Tim Minchin I've often tried to fill it up with wine which I may do again!
I don't know much about blogging but I welcome your comments and hope see many along the way.
