For the next three days I passed through several small, still-sleepy hamlets before finally rounding a gentle bend and coming upon Isabel’s lovely little coffee stop hostel. I was fully enamored by the warmth emanating from the same and walked quietly into its snuggly courtyard, intending only to snap a few photos and be on my peaceful way. And yet Isabel saw me from her kitchen window and called me down – telling me to take a seat at one of the courtyard’s small tables and then listening intently as I briefly told her of my Walk, whereupon she then began to shower me with a generosity that was as gracious as it was joyful. I kept telling her that there was no need to “go overboard” – indeed, that there was no need for her to give to me at all – and yet she seemed to get what many have long since forgotten; namely, that it is in the giving that Life’s true meaning unfolds, especially when the recipient of the same is in no position to offer anything in return. And so it was that I received fresh-squeezed orange juice and a piping hot coffee and some olive oil dipped toast garnished with fresh tomatoes and (“Wait! Don’t leave just yet!”) a pear and an apple and a warm hug to go …

“From any & all our journeys, be they imaginative or actual, by far the most important souvenir to be collected is the reminder that our lives are fortified by loving kindness, and that they are reforged & reinforced thereby like a pieces of the finest steel set anew in the purest forge. For it is in such acts of selfless caring that we remember that the importance of our material longings pale in comparison next to the sacred weight of deeply connecting with all passersby.” ~ inspired by Loreena Mckennitt

Filed under: My Life in Pictures by Scaughdt