Apulia: Lost and Found

So, Brigit from Germany and I are Camino besties now.

I don’t want to get too mushy, but 10 miles of sore feet and chit-chat followed by wine, beer, and exhaustion are a potent mix. Or maybe it was that Camino magic that veteran pilgrims go on about.

Whatever it was, Brigit and I found ourselves sharing shit you don’t share with strangers. We spilled secret guilts and wishes and sorrows. They poured out like the wine that started with “Oh, no. I can’t drink a whole bottle myself” and ended with a very amused waiter.

We two side-by-side ‘peregrinas’ had spent the last four or five hours lulled by the rhythmic tic-tic unison of our walking poles on the boards. Walls come down when the biggest worry you share is where you’re going to pee next. I think, also, there is a safety in being pilgrims. Most of us here are seeking something…next… without quite knowing what it will be. That’s enough for a relationship on the road.

But Brigit and I have dozens of things in common: two sons; one gregarious and the other shy; husbands who would rather stab themselves with a pencil than walk 10 miles a day; merino wool t-shirts. We also are driven at this moment in life to consider what we want our ‘next’ to be. It’s a heavy topic. We tried early during dinner to lighten the mood. The mood was not having it.

So, we got right down in it - sharing our fears and guilt and lost dreams - two days after having met. It was a long dinner. We ate many meats and cheeses. (Pork and dairy are big here.) We got a little weepy. We saw ourselves through each other’s eyes. This is a breathtaking thing when you are tired and drunk and are ripe for reflection and revelation.

They say, “The Camino provides,” but I did not see this coming. I feel lucky that it did. Traveling light apparently includes dropping my emotional baggage. Brigit and I were able to lighten each other’s loads, and as a result our own. We’re both closer to our next thing, whatever that may be.

As she would say, “It is good. It will be so. We will make it so.”Read more