The lovely Pogueno Potala hostel in Vega de Valcarce was one of the more special stopovers during my 2008 Camino pilgrimage. Luis, the refuge’s primary hospitalero, cared for me so graciously back then, and I decided I would stop by once more on my current Walk to offer him an additional Thank You for the same. The hostel was still locked up tight when I arrived on this day and no resident hospitaleros were readily on hand, so I simply sat alone in the shade of its lovely veranda and worked on making a lovely Peace Stone for them. And so it was that I had finished the stone, re-taped my shoes, drank some water, and re-applied sunscreen to my lower legs – all before the first hospitalero finally opened the hostel’s patio door and received my stony-yet-shiny gift.

“I’m pausing, right now, to be grateful for both everything I am and everything I’ve been given – everything. I’m pausing, right now, to be grateful for every pleasure and every pain that has contributed to the me who sits here and writes these words. I am thankful for my life. This moment is a blessing; each & every breath a gracious gift. Even being able to take so much for granted before now is a gift, as well. And yet that is not how I want to live anymore — not when real gratitude is an option, not when wonder and awe are always available choices. Sp I’m pausing right now to choose gratitude – to choose wonder – to choose awe. I pause in this moment and choose everything that even remotely encourages me to open myself to the miraculous reality of simply being alive for one moment more.” ~ inspired by Scott Stabile

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