Seasons of my Camino

A time of self-discovery

Hello friends,

Exciting news! An essay I wrote reflecting on the theme “Seasons of the Way” for La Concha: American Pilgrims on the Camino Magazine has been published in the Autumn 2023 edition, page 25. The full publication be accessed here. Below is the essay I wrote. I hope you enjoy.

---

Seasons of my Camino

The season in my life was three years after the death of my wife. We were together for forty-five years. I retired to take care of her during the last two. Our children and grandchildren were doing well, fully fledged from the nest. My career was over and my wife was gone. What had been home felt very different. It was a new season in my life, a time of self-discovery.

Six months after I celebrated my seventieth birthday, I crossed the Pyrenees from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Roncesvalles during the dry Fall. There were fields of sunflowers ready for their seeds to be harvested, faces created in the seed heads by fellow pilgrims. Grapevines were laden with grapes ripe and ready for feet to release their sweet nectar. 

I walked for forty days, including the time I got lost for twenty-four hours between Estella and Los Arcos. I bonded with people who became like family to me. Every day on The Way, I was fully present with the places and the people I encountered. I focused completely on Camino life. Sitting on the rocks at the edge of Finisterra’s turbulent waters, I realized that my Camino was just beginning. Re-entry would be challenging. 

After arriving home, it felt as if I had left the planet and lived an entire lifetime in those forty days. I decided to downsize, moving from a house in the suburbs to a loft in the city. I continued to travel outside the US. For eight weeks a year I traveled alone writing posts for my blog and staying in hostels. The Camino was never done with me, shaping my life in innumerable ways. 

As my eightieth birthday approached, I decided to act on a discovery made on the Camino.  I had carried everything I needed for those forty days on my back. I needed nothing more. 

I sold or gave away all my belongings, including my car, and did not renew the lease on my loft. I left the USA on January 3, 2023 with my backpack and computer to work on writing a book. I have no permanent residence, staying instead in Airbnbs, hostels, and occasionally with friends. My Camino is not over yet. It will not be over until I leave the planet…and who knows where it will lead me after that.        

- Peter