I woke from a deep (though also a bit sweaty) sleep and enjoyed a relaxing breakfast alone (with the rest of my fellow pilgrims having already eaten quickly in order to start their walking early). Stephane, with whom I had shared a delightful conversation the previous evening, then walked over to me before himself heading out and offered to pay for my lodging that evening, assuming I can make it to the Municipal Hostel in the town of Pimbo up ahead. I didn’t firmly accept the offer (maintaining an ethic that refuses to make promises that I am not sure I will be able to keep), and yet I do believe in the principle of accepting (and thereby enlivening) any & all selfless gifts offered, so Pimbo looked to be the day’s probable destination at that point … Gerard, another pilgrim, then began to offer his farewells to the group, and it became quickly clear that an infected injury to his foot would be preventing him from completing his pilgrimage. I gave him a gentle hug of compassion and offered to carry something to Santiago for him if he wishes. Through tears he removed a wooden scallop-shell necklace and placed it around my neck, and through tears of my own (as well as the tears of more than a handful of others nearby) I promised to do everything I could to place that token inside the Santiago Cathedral (something I was indeed ultimately able to do) … Everyone else then steadily departed while I slowly and smoothly packed my things and got ready to walk. I was easily the last one to depart through the sanctuary’s ornate wooden doorway, and I paused briefly outside to warmly embrace Didier (who was constructing a retaining wall of some sort) once more – still enormously grateful for the incredibly humble Kindness he had showed me the night before.

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing, for it recognizes what is excellent in others, and thereby reawakens the same within ourselves.” ~ via Voltaire

Filed under: Peace Pilgrimage #02: Walking HOME (2019) by Scaughdt