Day 41h: Re-membering the Hero’s Task … (05/25/2019)
This day’s saunter, as more than a few of this Journey’s walking days turned out to be, proved to be a more difficult one — with my energy levels lower than normal, and my hips hurting more than usual, and the folks I met along The Way not seeming as keen or as able to assist yours truly as they tended otherwise to be. And so it was that I ambled on & on & on — deep into the late afternoon, full into a misty rainstorm, and eventually all the way into the high-end portion of the village of Charancieu …
My legs were starting to give out at this point, and I began going from door to door to door, asking the local residents if there was a bed or a sofa or even a dry floor or doorway available for a mendicant pilgrim that evening. And so it was that I was met with rejection after rejection — some of them rudely dismissive and some of them sympathetically polite — until I finally was told by an exceptionally kind woman to head up to the very top of the hill and ask at the “Grand Maison” there. And what a “large home” it proved to be — a HUGE home, actually, and yet even though many rooms there were obviously available, and even though the couple who owned the same were nice enough in their own right, I was offered no refuge (and only a brief respite) there …
And yet I was informed by the same proprietors that “the hippy house” back down the hill might be amenable to helping down-and-out wanderers like myself, and so all the way back down The Way I went, gently looking for the same — without hope or expectation, and still soaked without by the foggy raindrops and within by a gratitude still crystal clear … 🙂
“In the middle of my long journey, I woke to find myself in quite the dark wood, and so began a Great Quest — one that led to my transformation and ultimately my redemption. It was a journey through the darkest section of that forest; one with the same depth of shadow as the ones traversed by all the young heroes of old. The road through the same was long and treacherous, prowled by wolves and ghosts and wizards — and yet my resolve was steadfast and my intentions were pure, and because of the same many allies appeared along the way — paladins and fairies and animal guides. It was my own Hero’s Journey — a trek that demanded me to tell friend from foe, and then to keep walking steadily onward when blessed by the former, and keep loving when challenged by the last.” ~ inspired by Dante & Terri Windling
;