Homer's Travels: Camino 2013: It's Starting To Get Real ... And A Little Reminder To Calm Down Already!

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Camino 2013: It's Starting To Get Real ... And A Little Reminder To Calm Down Already!

Until recently, my second Camino was just a hazy event in my future.  It always felt so far away.  Being my second Camino I was not as uptight, nervous, and over-planning as I was last time.  Not that I haven't planned.  Heck, I acknowledge the fact that I've been planning it since I got back from my first Camino back in March in this post but I'm not sure I have been as emotionally invested as I was planning my first Camino. Not until this week, that is.

Last weekend I started to feel a little nervous twinge.  I began to feel a bit unprepared.  Uncertainty creeped in.  Am I really ready?  I'll be in France for three days this time and ... I don't speak French!  I think I've subconsciously become overdependent on GV who speaks French and who is doing a lot more planning for the first part of our Camino than I am.  Shame on me for not being more prepared.

I am trying.  I am doing more research.  I rewrote my stages ... again ... resulting in version 9.3 (version 9.3 sounds so much better that version 12 which it actually, kind of, is).  I dropped a few places I'd visited before.  Added a few places I'd never been before.  Swapped a few things around.  Overall I ended up evening out the stages a little better I think ... though that could just be an illusion.

So my nerves are getting to me and I feel the tickle of anxiety in my belly so I go for a training walk around South Omaha (16.54 miles - 26.62 km).  In a rather dreary and industrial area, on the sidewalk outside a repair shop or something, I find this laying on the sidewalk:
Not a Saint James Shell but close enough for South Omaha.
I don't remember ever seeing a shell just laying around in Omaha.  Who knows where it came from.  It's not a Saint James shell but, to me, a shell is a shell.

A Blog Friend asked recently on Facebook if his friends believed in fate.  I don't.  I don't believe in fate, divine intervention, or an all powerful sentient universe.  I do believe in coincidences though.  I've met my share.  This one came at an opportune moment.  It calmed some of the butterflies I was feeling.  It reminded me that I was actually less prepared last time and I made it through to the end just fine.

You provide the will, and the Camino provides the way.

6 comments:

  1. Go Bruce...we will walk with you through your blog...safe travel's.

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    1. Anon: Thanks. The posts will follow my return like they did last time. Too hard to find the time and energy to blog while walking the Camino.

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  2. Ooooh pre travel jitters are awesome! you're going to kick butt! That's nervous/excitement!! Woo hoo!!

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    1. Miss McC: They are NOT awesome. I want to be all coolio but I'm a nervous wreck!

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  3. Wow...love the shell and the timing. You will be just fine...and from the sounds of it, you'll be keeping the toe nails too! Buen Camino mi Amigo!

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    1. KSam: Not sure if I'll keep all my nails or not. I will keep them trimmed short to reduce the chances of loosing them though.

      Thanks KSam. Would have been cool if you could have joined us on the Camino but ... you have your hands full with little people :-)

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