Yes, we are still in the COVID-19 Pandemic and the world is unsteady after the last 20 months.* The new – normal keeps changing, but won’t return to the pre-Pandemic past. But there is hope on the horizon. With trepidation and excitement, Luis and I have taken the first commitment — steps, if you will — to travel halfway across the world to complete a pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago.
Both my sisters have walked the Camino. Tina and her husband Leonard walked from Portugal in 2015. Years later, when Lenny was too weak to go because of stage 4 cancer, Tina took a group of cousins and my other sister. I was too damned committed to work and didn’t feel I could simply leave work for 3 or 4 weeks to go with them. Then the pandemic hit. Luis and I sequestered ourselves. We feared being breathed upon by anyone and everyone. We wiped down our curbside pick-up groceries. We learned how to Zoom for Mother’s Day, caught up on house maintenance, sorted old clothes, put our finances on a long-term investment strategy, and watch a lot, I mean, A LOT of television. Most importantly, we centered our lives, stayed in our home, and contemplated what we value.
The nudges we needed to make plans to walk the Camino included: the COVID vaccination and its booster; my sisters’ evangelical encouragement, my boss mentioning in passing that she completed the last 100 km by herself, and most of all the yearning to have a physical experience that renews my spirituality.
Luis and I started getting in better shape, increasing the distance of our evening walks. We took a deep gulp of breath and bought airline tickets. Refundable, if necessary. The plans started to feel like an adventure.
Then my 86 year-old mom died. Suddenly. She had begun to show signs of Alzheimer’s and she was physically weak which were conditions long in coming. We knew that our son Lorenzo’s wedding in September 2019 just before the Pandemic hit was probably the last trip she would make, but we didn’t realize what was ahead for her. Both my sisters, Tina and Diana did heroic gestures and changed their lives to take her in, trading off every other month to have mom under their care. Mom’s memory failed but she covered it up craftily.
Events coalesced and here we are (October 2021) with a Camino in the planning. I’ll pray for health for my friends, family, and the world. Please pray for the fruition of the plans for me and Luis to walk our Camino.
*Postscript, March 21, 2022: This post was found in “Drafts” from November 2021, just weeks after my mom passed away. She was the glue that held our family together: Single mom of six kids, and boy did she do right by raising us. I hope she views our Camino from the other side, if it happens, as a tribute to her. She was supportive of our pilgrimage, even if she didn’t recall the details of our trip or remember Luis’s name.
Ordinary Gente 