Sundries

[Felipe Sanchez]

Felipe Sanchez wrote:
> The respect I feel for the experience I perceived while on the Camino
> prohibits my profanation of the experience by hyperbole or
> fabrication.  Apparently, my attitude and reaction are unique.

Robert Spenger wrote:
>Just because Miss Maclaine and Senhor Coelho have used their imagination
>to produce fictional works based on their camino experiences, I don't
>think you are justified in insulting most of the members of this group
>by stating that you believe that you are the only one who has reported
>honestly about  a pilgrimage.

Senor Spenger:  
I find it most curious that you took umbrage with my observation.  Within the context of what I wrote, my comparison was to McClain and Cohelo.  I also qualified my statement by affirming "apparently."  Nor do I remember reporting about a pilgrimage.  But now that I know that you are the spokesman for "most of the members of this group" I shall be more meticulous and politic in future offerings.  As for your accusation that I was "insulting" I must admit to yet being in a quandary as to how I accomplished such a heinous act.  

Estimado Doctor Romero:
Thank you for your kind and reasoned response to my comments.  I learned more from your letter than you can imagine.  You mentioned an interest in the motives inherent in our desire to do the Camino.  Several come to mind.  Annie had walked all the way from Le Puy, France. She had endured thirteen operations and admitted to me in fractured English that she "had gone dead" two times.  I took this to mean suicide.  Her intent was to find the miracle of recovery upon entering the Portico de la Gloria. I chose not to share her disillusionment in Santiago.  Joe from Bermuda had vowed to God that if the Almighty would cure his son of debilitating melancholy he, Joe, would traverse the entire Camino Frances.  Gerald from England had a cerebral tumor excised a year earlier. He was celebrating survival.  I, on the other hand, had spent a time in the Psych Ward of Un. of Washington Hospital with severe clinical depression and suicidal ideation.  I was diagnosed with disthymia and PTSD.  The analysis and medications were successful enough that I thought to escape from an oppressive marriage while testing and demonstrating my return to viability.  The mere thought, today, that I did the Camino provides an endless amount of consolation and strength for me.  And as if nature insisted on an additional blessing, for the first and last time in more than sixty years, I met a young woman and fell wondrously in love.  And yet the miracle persists as we plan to trek together the Via de la Plata this year.  Not only, then, am I almost overcome with deja vu each time I enter the plaza of Trujillo but now my being is intertwined with the very earth of Spain I have so affectionately trod.  Clearly I shall end my days as an expatriate on the Iberian Peninsula.  Some motives run deeper than others and involve each facet of one's being.  

Ed:  I thoroughly enjoy your comments.  Please don't lose your edge!

                            Felipe Sanchez


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