Day 52m: Bonded by LOVE … (06/05/2019)
It was pretty much the middle of the day by the time I walked into Saugues proper, and even though my hips were hurting quite a bit I didn’t intend on staying long there. After briefly & peacefully checking out the local Catholic church (the lovely St. Benilde en Margeride — the sanctuary of which is pictured in the first comment box below), I was simply sitting at a shaded table in the town square (to rest for awhile before walking onward) when Roland — the proprietor of the establishment to whom said table belonged — approached me. I asked him if it was OK for me to rest there for a few minutes and asked for a glass of water as well to drink before setting off. He asked me if I wanted something to eat and I told him that I was walking my entire Peace Pilgrimage without any money at all and that a glass of water would be more than wonderful. he was gone for more than a few minutes, and I thought it might be time to head on out without the glass of water when he returned with a sumptuous feast of fried potatoes, green salad, and fresh bread ( :O ) … I thought he had misunderstood me the first time, so I apologetically informed him that I could not pay for the meal, whereupon he told me that he & his wife (Laurence) were deeply moved by what I was doing (the Why of the Walk even more than the How) and that it was their honor to feed me on my journey … :O :O :O
Needless to say, I was deeply moved by this most unexpected gesture of Kindness — a gesture that was then doubled-up when Laurence came out to my table and brought me a “To Go” bag filled with tomatoes and apples and walnuts … :O
I finished my meal — which filled my Soul with Gratitude as much as it filled my belly with deliciousness — and went to say my farewells to them both. We chatted awhile more about my Walk and their lives (it turns out that Roland does humanitarian work for the people of Lebanon). They both teared up a bit as we started to say our goodbyes (I freely admit that I did a bit as well), and then with two hugs and a wave I returned once more to The Road … 😀 😀 😀
“Love overflows the allowance of the world. Indeed, all of life’s vessels overflow with it, and no end or limit stays ever put. Love knows — as do we all — that every shakable thing that can be shaken must be shaken. In one sense, nothing that was ever lost to us in the past has ever been replaced. In another sense, nothing is ever lost to us –period. I truth we are compacted together forever as one — by our failures and our regrets and our longings, yes, and yet far more by our triumphs of the heart; by our kindness and our generosity and our caring and our Love.” ~ inspired by Wendell Berry
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