WHAT? is passe; it's the WHY that matters, so WHY aren't we asking WHY?

Life on the camino has it's up's and downs-- and that's MANY ups and MANY downs-- i have stopped thinking in feet and now realize when I see 300m on the map showing an elevation climb it means METERS, so i'm climbing a 1000+ feet, not 300. The third or fourth time i suspected i had gone a bit more than 300 feet I looked harder at the elevations-- so now i know meters-- and i know KILOMETERS--- i should, i've been doing enough of them, but not so bad-- 22-26 kms a day/ 13-16 miles so far, but i'm sure my distances will be increasing over time.

All in all, it's been a good start. I appreciate that i should write these words realizing that someone besides me might want to understand what the heck i'm saying, so i'll be a bit more attentive to that-- a bit, but I am more of a stream of consciousness writer so there just might be some passages that weren't for you -- so move on--or maybe when i reread some of this i will be saying WHAT the hell was I thinking!!!!

Go with it for now, and i'll do my best-- MY BEST--- returning momentarily-- to PHILOSOPHY--
I think my treatise statement MIGHT be interpreted as TOO ONE-Dimensional-- like it's meant only for concerts, or jobs, or whatever--

So, TREATISE #2-- multi-dimensional-
ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST, especially for and when SERVING (in service of) OTHERS-- and "do your best" means with the gifts, talents, and capabilities/resources at your disposal--your God given YOU!!

Okay, that clarifies philosophy, so maybe when i get to a computer i'll revise that other essay--

Do your best??? What's that mean on the camino? Well, i think the key on the Camino is to BE YOUR BEST, as in TRUE SELF-- there are no pre-conditions, no social status, everyone pays €5 to stay in the albergue (there is no "suite presidential", per se)--,
But then again, people are always evolving and their "self" is too-- The Camino lets you get a bit more thoughtful on it. How?, you ask?
Well, for one, no one asks me WHAT I DO? A lot of people ask WHY AM I doing the Camino!!!!

How about we all just start over and instead of using the word WHAT all the time we go a bit deeper and start with WHY? Like this;

1)Hi, how are you?!!!
2)Good, and you?
1) I'm fine. WHY are you on the EARTH?
2) Hold on a minute-- i haven't really EVER ANSWERED THAT question before?? REALLY TRULY--so, let me tell you WHAT I DO and WHAT I WANT and WHAT I NEED, and i'll get to this WHY thing in a little while.

Well, i'm throwing that out there all over the place here--and i'm asking myself that question too!!!! WHY, not WHAT.

68 years old, two guys (one from england with his wife who is walking for a week, and one from Spain who is going all the way to Santiago) are the oldest people i've met.
The Canadian "save the world" girl (and i DO NOT mean that in ANY way derogatory, to be clear--she's just a really nice sincere 'caring about the world' person) was the youngest at 21, TILL TODAY, when 19 yr old Anipia
From Austria showed up midway through the day.

TT : "Anipia, WHY are you walking the Camino?"
A : "i really don't know, but i know i do not know what i want to do with my life so i am walking, hoping it will help guide me"!!!!

Sounded good to me!! Then i started to ask about her parents and stuff and how they felt, and then, since i have kids her age, i started to think about what I WOULD DO? If one of my kids suddenly got off their path and wanted a new one, like the CAMINO? I "think" i would try and convince them to do it in the summer. But that's just a GUESS--
And kid's DO NOT TEST this guess anytime soon, thank you!!!!

Okay, so we moved beyond the WHY for now (she spoke french and english well enough,so that was good for communication)

Next question? HOW did you hear about the Camino?

Anipia : her aunt did it starting in AUSTRIA

TT : and where did she walk to?

Anipia : She walked the Camino

TT: FROM AUSTRIA?????

A : YES

TT: Anipia, where did you start your walk?

A : "i started in El Puy, France, on Sept 2nd, 2007 as i didn't think i could make it all the way from AUSTRIA before the snow.

I told her that was a good decision as she would "FREEZE her BUTT off"-- she had never heard of that expression and practiced it a few times--

So she is taking a friendly, leisurely, 3 month WALK-- and she has parents just like me!!!

Alll stripes on the Camino-- so far Japanese, Korean, Slovakian, French, austrian, belgique, austalian, Spanish, English, Danish, Brazil(Atonio!!!!), Hungary,Swiss, and a few Canadians-- these are the original countries of the people i've met--so far. Some started in their home and have been walking for months, some will only walk a week--all kinds.

MY Spanish-- i can get you any food (although it seems that ham is always on special), i have all the basics to be able to survive, as ZEUS (that's how i spelled it) has allowed me to intermittenly walk with her and then leave her alone--she is "me professeura", CHUS is the correct spelling but it sounds like ZEUS ---
CHUS is on the Camino for only a few more days, but she is happy with my progress!!! As are the spanish guys who all work together in a casino but are now walking for a week of vacation-- TOGETHER--
Oh, i forgot to tell you i saw my first family-- father, mother and it looked like 14-15yr old daughter--from Hungary--truly all kinds on this walk.

Bueno!!!!

Okay--
ROUTINE
1)Wake up 7am (although today in Los Arcos the bells of the Church(beautiful) literally THREW us out of bed at 6am, and 6:30, and 7am--i guess the townspeople really like the bells!!!)
2) Dress/breakfast
3) Start walking 8:15-8:30
4) 8:35- stop and stretch (this repeats regularly
5) 1pm- lunch, somewhere, and you know what's on the menu??? Ham on bread!!! And it's very good
6) 4/5pm arrive at next Albergue
7) 1st/ prep clothes for tomorrow (only have two sets
8) shower (they've been great!!! )
9) Wash clothes, by hand and then hang to dry
10) WRITE JOURNAL!!!!!
11) EAT dinner. €10 pelligrino (pilgrim)dinner inclusive of wine
12) Bed

Okay, so that's the routine-- but to be clear, the substance of this Camino is that there is NO ROUTINE!!
Everyday is different, with different conversations, different people (new or old) different feelings, emotions, SONGS, and pains.

Pain: my walking poles have done me wonders in making sure through all the ups and downs i don't fall, but i have to give some credit to my knee brace-- i saw that the seams on one side have partly ripped, which means on one of my downhill ALMOST "falls" that my sticks kept me up but my brace kept my knee intact--thank you!! My body is adjusting to walking 6+ hours a day, and i am shocked to realize when i walk to dinner i am wondering why i DON'T have my backpack on!!!!! It's as if my body thinks the backpack on my back is NORMAL, and wonders why the hell would i go anywhere w/out it!!!

Lastly

YEAH JOHNNY had a comment-- and i thought "Johnny" was too one dimensional as well as i wrote it. Why?, you ask?
Appropriately--

It is because I knew, as did my colleagues know, so many who didn't get out of the building. I was that night in 2001 at U2 with my good buddy at Madison Square Garden looking for a bunch of names, like Danny, Joe, David, Mike, Mike, Todd, Tim, Chris, John, JOHNNY, Joey, Kaleen, Don, Ted, and it goes on and on---and i couldn't see most of the names because my eyes were just covered in tears-- sad about what had happened, but to be sharing this moment with people who had lost so much seemed like i was in the right place.
As Bono said, "We'll SEE them all when we get home".

Peace
TT


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