A few days later I decided to ask her for more details. While this trip was definitely different then the Europe trip I had in my head, it started to sound feasible. The summer of 2015 could hold some pretty significant changes for me at work. And, I was realizing that the Europe 2015 trip in my mind was much like the one I took in 2010....which is altogether too long of a trip as I'm now bound by the "vacation days" I accrue. Though different then the trip back to Europe that I had begun dreaming about, this one sounded enticing. It's like nothing I'd ever done before. I asked Stephanie the cost and when she told me I was shocked. We could go to Europe for that cheap? I was in. I didn't tell her that in the moment but I knew I was in. I mean, how could I pass up this opportunity? We decided to schedule lunch together to talk about it in more depth and when we walked away from our lunch, we had committed. A few days later, we had flights.
During our "decision" lunch together, Steph shared some of the reasons she was wanting to walk the Camino. Deeply meaningful reasons. This moved me. The idea that this trip could be more then adventure spoke to my depths.
The Camino de Santiago is a spiritual pilgrimage that people have been walking for centuries. I really didn't know a thing about it but quickly learned that it was rich with meaning. People left their homes and walked hundreds of miles, to pay their respects to the relics of St. James, son of Zebedee, housed in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Today, thousands of people each year walk to Camino de Santiago from all over Europe, just as they did back in the medieval ages. This pilgrimage means different things to different people today. But, what would it mean to me? Besides adventure, I didn't know. But I began to take on a posture of openness and prayed that He'd reveal His purposes to me for the journey ahead.
