Life’s plan

“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us”
Joseph Campbell
Minutes away from boarding Air France flight to Paris. The beginning of my Camino de Santiago. Like all the peregrinos before me, I do not claim the Camino as my own, only the journey. Many things have been running around endlessly in my mind. Old questions, new answers, old worries, new hopes, old failures, new dreams. Sitting in airports awaiting flights have always caused me to reflect on life. Perhaps the idle time aided by a double Jack Daniel’s. I’ve been moving toward this adventure for quite some time now, I would guess all my life.
I can remember sitting out in my old mans Chevy Impala on a rainy day. The sound of the rain drops, the constant beat, the resonating tranquility. Reading Huck Finn, knowing then, I needed to be on an adventure. There had to be more for me. Even then, 10 years old.

I ran across a line in Ernest Hemingway’s, The Sun Also Rises.
“Going to another country doesn’t make any difference. I’ve tried all that.
You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.
There’s nothing to that”

Perhaps Hemingway’s, character, “Jake” was correct. The attainment of answers, the fulfillment of hopes and dreams, aren’t to be found in another country. But, what if on the flight to Paris, or on the TGV to Saint Jean Pied de Port, or the first steps along the Camino, I find an inkling of who I am. Isn’t that inkling of understanding worth the journey. I am not a “peregrino” in search of complete answers or fulfillment of hopes and dreams. But, i am willing to let go of all the plans and accept the inkling of understanding that awaits.

Taking that first step, accepting the risk, but also rejoicing in the moment, the reward of the awaiting journey. That is the ,”why” of my Camino.

Here is to letting go of all that is planned and rejoicing in all that awaits.

“Isn’t pretty to think so?”
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

I will be sharing my Camino experiences with you via these posts. Please follow if you wish, share your thoughts with me, if you will.

Bien Camino
“G” on the Camino de Santiago

Location:SFO