Building Roads, Building Connections

The city I walk to today is San Domingo de la Calzada (literally St. Dominic of the road) it holds the remains of St. Dominic who was an engineer who built many of the roads and bridges along the Camino. He helped to make so many connections between pilgrims over the centuries through his work.

My road on the Camino today had me building a few connections. Early this morning I met Mariah. I ran into her yesterday briefly as well. She was lost and couldn’t find the signs for the Camino. The same was true today. I use an app that shows my location and the path ahead in case I’m ever unsure. I joined her and walked with her for the first few miles to breakfast.

Mariah (pictured in the photos of this post) is 71 years old!!!! She is from Holland and walked all the way from Holland to where she is now and plans to continue to Santiago!!! Not only that but she carries everything with her (I have most of my stuff transported to my next location by comparison). Her pace was far quicker than mine but she decided to slow down to enjoy the company. I’m so amazed by her physical ability.

She also has a warm heart. She’s a retired teacher for two years. She worked with special needs children and you can tell by her demeanor that she takes the time to understand the people she worked with. That was also true about the people of her life. Mariah had been married a few times, had four children, but said she’s never been successful with her relationships. Yet, she still remains friendly with her ex-partners. I shared with her that to understand the flaws of her partners and to be able to maintain a friendly relationship was successful. She enjoys time with her grown children and friends. And she’s only ever taken a plane once- to England. And she doesn’t have a drivers license (I joked that she didn’t need one, she just walks everywhere!) 😆

After lunch I ran into three generations of a family doing this segment of the Camino (also pictured) . Grandparents, their grown children, and the one child’s children (3 kids ages 6 and below!!!). They were a riot to watch. We shared a rest stop and got to chatting. The ex-fiancé of the father of the young kids also was with them. I assumed one of the children may have been between the ex-finance and the young father. I told them that I have a similar situation in my family. It was beautiful to see them all together.

The young couple with kids live in New Zealand but grew up in England where the grandparents and ex-fiancé still reside. They got caught in New Zealand visiting the wife’s family when COVID happened. They’ve stayed ever since and said it’s a great place to raise children. They live 20 minutes from the literal shire of the Lord of the Rings and said they go walking there all the time. I freaked out and said my kids would LOVE that! Ha! So would I! Two of the three kids took to me quickly and riddled me with their attention. The parents and grandparents had a laugh and said they were happy to have a sitter for a while. I only walked briefly with them and continued on (they had many frequent stops along the way).

Both experience brought a bit of joy to my day and a boost to my walk.Leer más