The sun made an appearance for precisely six minutes, enough time for me to lather on sun screen, before it disappeared again behind the haze, which hung over the countryside like a veil. The walk today lacked scenery, but the conversation was splendid.
We only have 214 kilometers to go to Santiago de Compostela, or about eight days. It’s been a heck of an experience so far, but how could we express it to friends back home when they ask about it? Greg and Kaitlin took time off work to walk the Camino. When they go back, their co-workers will ask them about their experience. How was the Camino? Was it worth taking time off work for it? What was it like?
And what are Greg and Kaitlin to say? How can they summarize a month-long pilgrimage into such a brief conversation as is required in the workplace? Any attempt would simply marginalize the experience. The ups and downs, the challenges, the fears, both real and imaginary, and overcoming them, the heat, the rain, the discomfort, the pain, the feeling that the walk is bloody difficult but also that there is nothing else they’d rather be doing at that exact moment, the way the Camino has connected them as a young couple, how it has solidified their marriage when it could just as easily have destroyed it, the anguish of blisters, the generosity of complete strangers, the anxiety of knowing you’ve lost the trail, the joy of finding it again, the gratitude for a cup of coffee on a cold wet morning, and the sheer joy and yes, bewilderment, of being alive.
And we haven’t even reached Santiago yet. How might they express that upcoming experience?!
Chris Guillebeau, author of The Happiness of Pursuit, was interviewed many times after he completed his goal of visiting every country in the world. Inevitably, interviewers would ask him, “How was the experience?” It was a question Chris struggled to answer. What do you say about a project that took you fifteen years to complete? But one understanding interviewer said, “Chris, I know it’s impossible to summarize your project in one interview, so why don’t you share a couple of your favourite stories about your adventure with our audience.” It was exactly what Chris needed.
And perhaps that is all we will have too for our friends and co-workers – a few anecdotes about our journey. And then encourage them to go on a pilgrimage of their own. It could be life changing.