[Gocamino] May 13, San Francisco, Morning

[Kathy Gower]

Greetings, Eileen, et al,

I have just returned from St. Jean Pied de Port where I went with the same 
sisters I originally walked from in 1999. I read Eileen's post with great 
interest and empathy, and imagined her as she described herself, there in a 
place like St. Jean, ready to tackle the journey ad herself.

St. Jean was lovely and it is perfect walking temperature.  I was in Basque 
country with my sisters (many of them) for a Mother's Day reunion in St. 
Jean de Luz and San Sebastian where it rained most of the time.  It is now 
glorious and as we walked the rue de Citadelle and stopped at the Pilgrim 
Office, our reminiscences came tumbling out, mostly for the benefit of a 
fifth, witnessing sister, yet mostly for each, individually.  It seemed in 
1999 there weren't nearly as many trinket shops there, before the church and 
the bridge, and definitely not as many rooms for rent for pellerin.
I stopped and wrote a note for sister number 6 who will be there in a few 
days on her way, walking  to Santiago....

There are three hosts in the office and a scale now, to weigh your back pack 
and to provide any information you could possibly want, including charts of 
how the number of pilgrims have increased substantially. No Madame debril, 
but there is still questions to answer and to pass muster...I didn't pass as 
I wasn't walking that day, and so was denied a credential.

However, leaving all that behind and starting up the trek along the narrow 
road ad the GR 65 red and white stripes, the whole world of pilgrimage came 
back to all of us.  We only walked a little ways, and then drove up to 
Orisson, remembering where we had stopped to wet down our heads (carried too 
much) and where we were offered crackers or water, and how we met the 
pilgrims with socks pinned to their packs and where we stopped to savor the 
incredible view.  The youngest of us four pilgrims kept saying it seemed so 
much harder, so much steeper then...but now we were in a car....

We passed several pilgrims, waving and smiling and couldn't help noticing 
how hard they worked and how happy they were...stopped at Huntto and 
remembered how we were the same...tired, in the moment, pensive, glowing...

Turning around about 6 kms up the road with no side, there it hit...the 
glory of the human striving to do what so many have done before and what we  
challenged ourselves to also do...to go beyond our comfort zones and to 
reach for something higher and beyond us.

I say "us" because it was "us"...sisters, pilgrims, friends, strangers at 
times....and the road IS steep and the way sometimes difficult, but taken at 
one's own pace, open to outcomes, doable.

To all getting ready, a big hug and a thumbs up!   What a trip....