Ana and I entered Santiago De Compostela after 35 days of walking, 800 kilometers and in that particular day, the most rain I have experience in a long time.

I had woken up that morning, early before any light, with a horrible cold and yet we knew we needed to keep walking.  As we walked the rain started to pour more and more to the point that we may have been the only ones on the walk for a while until we ducked into a cafe to warm ourselves with more coffee and we would see our other friends along the way.  For the past days it had been a packed experience since if you walk the last 100km you get your certificate but on this day because of the rain it was only the people we knew from the whole journey. Rain could not keep us from our goal. We had come this far and experienced this much.  It seemed fitting and appropriate.

We entered the city and got to the Cathedral and took the pic above.  If you have seen the square before you know it is usually packed with people, pilgrims and tourist alike and yet that day you will notice we were the only ones crazy enough to take our pic.  But again, nothing could stop us at this point as we walked in to our destination past the bag pipe players and our need to reach the end and yet our sadness of reaching the end.

After this picture we ran out of the rain and immediately found a restaurant to eat something, our clothes literally dripping.  We had an airbnb booked and after eating we went to dry out, sleep, shower and recover just a little before joining back up with our friends to wait in line for our Compostela and to eat and drink and celebrate this moment.

A rush of emotions kept hitting us..is this it?  We knew we wanted to continue on to the end of the earth or Fisterra as the city is called and somewhere deep inside I knew this wasn’t the end…the end of us, the end of my journey, even the end of my camino. That would actually happen a few days later in Muxia when I knew my first Camino actual path had ended but my life Camino and my next journeys were just beginning.

This is us…just taken yesterday as we took our dogs to a dog meet up in the dog park at Tempelhofer Feld.  We played and wandered and Ana looked at me and said, “Saturday afternoons for this pack are pretty great.” I totally agreed and had to document the occasion.

So much has happened in two years from our entry into Santiago.  A year ago I moved around this date on purpose, a new journey, a new stage. I have now had variations on my job, a huge life move, adjustments to what it means to live in Europe and the continued search for new life and the theology of place which I feel I am constantly learning new things about and starting again and again.

The Camino transformed my life. I believe in Resurrection because of the journey we went on two years ago.  I know now that Resurrection is not the same as  resuscitation. When parts of our lives are resurrected, the are brought new life but they don’t look the same. I could not return to my life as I had before and yet I was definitely brought back to life in new ways along the Camino path. I remembered who I was created to be which meant that the life that had created around me, a burned out me, a wrecked me, didn’t fit any longer.  Two years ago, I became more me, finding out where God resided again in me.  I also found love and my body.  I learned about what I could do and also some of my limits. I learned about the world expanding every moment and connected with people that I may never see again and those I will hold dear forever.

One of my dearest friends is walking the Camino right now and everything a picture is posted, both Ana and I reminisce and yearn for the Camino again.  We love watching people discover the path that we had discovered and know what they are going through and yet they will have their own camino life and experiences that they will carry with them forever.  The Camino is calling again to us and it is causing us to talk about the next time we will walk it. 🙂

Today will be a day of reflection and perhaps a long walk.  Thank God for my Camino journey and where it has brought me thus far. 🙂