THEN? 6am saturday plane to Madrid, 11am train from Madrid to Leon!!! bullet train that should be exciting for Matt as it will be the first time he's been on something like that !!!
Leon for the night on saturday night with a bed and normal accommodations so we can acclimate and get ready for the walk ahead---
the walk ahead??? What is it about ? this time? I mean, I've been there before, done that, right?
Not quite!! This time around I'll have my son by my side and at no time nor at any moment will I be in anything like the zone I was in in 2007 having been 6 weeks by myself---
Neither better nor worse, just different, and in my mind this experience, this time, will be like nothing ever before in my life--
Matt, with his backpack, me, with mine, and the two of us walking the 8 days between Astorga, Spain and Santiago de Compostela, that "field of the Stars".
Then, planned and fully included in this trip (unlike the random accidental Bruce in Madrid on 11/29/07), we will see Bruce in Santiago, Spain!!!! Monte de Gozo is the town/area just short of Santiago on the Camino and apparently there is a sizable soccer stadium that we will need to show up at to go see Bruce.
So we will.
Along the way how we walk, how we talk, what we talk about????? a 16 year old rising young man and a man getting older and not so much wiser by the year, father and son. Only two things are determined on this trip!!! 1) U2 in Dublin and 2) Bruce in Santiago. In between is the exploration and adventure of a lifetime between a father and son,. It will be another in the line of wonderful experiences for me to be with Matt, and it will be something Matt will have an opinion about!!! We'll see how it ends up!! but for now, it's a safe bet on some walking we've done that it will be joyful and peaceful, and I'll learn more than Matt most likely. Oh, Matt, I forgot to mention that sleeping bag will be in use the WHOLE trip!!!! in the hostels!!!
not so bad, if you ask me.
It is just different to be me, and it's just different to be him. I know this, yet I am more demanding than I am understanding. It happens to be my nature.
So along the way we'll walk, we'll carry our backpacks, we'll sleep in the hostels, and hopefully the trail won't be so crowded that we need to sleep on the floors or outside---
What possible purpose could this trip incorporate? WHY? doing the trip of a lifetime again only 125 miles of the 500 mile trail with a loved one that will clearly put a burden on the 'FREEDOM" of the space the Camino allows one to occupy???
Purpose? Reason?
We'll have to allow that to evolve, and we'll have to allow our shared experience lead us where we are going on our mutual camino.
I am hopeful that if we do nothing else, we learn to love each other more, and I learn to accept the son I have more than anything else I might want. I don't really know what I want when it comes to that anyway, so If we come away with my learning to love my son more in today's world then tomorrow's dream's will be for him and for him alone? yeah, i like the sound of that---
Why my son, and why not one of my daughter's?
He's lucky, he's in the right place at the right time and I'm ready to go so we won't question the why??---All i know is we, the both of us, will have a unique moment in time together that has the opportunity to top all the things we have done so far--- and we've done a lot!!!!
Are there any other purposes that might be involved? Anything else out there that I might consider ? A walk with a purpose?
The answer is yes, as during the last trip I was retired and relaxed and in a moment of appreciation for all that has happened.
And now, while I have not lost any of that appreciation for what has passed, I view this trip as the launching pad for what is to come, for what will be, for whom it shall be.
I am humble by my own blessings, and each step of my walk, and in turn my ability to translate this feeling or absorption to my son's walk, will be to further appreciate those blessings but also to walk for those who need our steps to help them get where they are going---in their struggle, in their walk, with their challenges.
No one is alone, and no one can fully understand or appreciate where another who is dealing with the turns in the path that life throws at some of us--not all, just some.
Sometimes it's called Multiple Scerlosis--- sometimes it is called Cancer--- sometimes it is simply a trip to the store for some milk and it turns into a car wreck that turns EVERYTHING upside down---and sometimes it ???____ you get the picture, don't you?
which brings me to the opening theme, the one that launches us on our trip----
I'm not sure how much of the last 16 months since the "FREEDOM TOUR"ended I can cover, but i'll try--more importantly, my thoughts are focused on where we are going--- and we need to get there!!!!
this walk, if it is about anything, is about bringing us "Closer to Love"
(song by mat kearney)
If we go anywhere over the next week, I beg please let it include getting me "closer to love"
tt
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