I must get to 20! As if creating my Christmas letter wasn't enough writing for this busy season, I noticed that there are only 19 posts this year on the blog, and I am not a fan of odd numbers...so one more post it is. How is everyone doing this holiday season? I, for one, feel like it is the first "real" Christmas season I have lived in many years. We attended more parties in one week this season than we attended in the past two years combined! Well, maybe there was a small gathering last year, but this year feels like we are celebrating together...for the first time in a while, and I like it!
One trivial holiday observation this year was that holiday parties required a change in wardrobe. Over the past two years I have gathered quite the athleisure wardrobe and have become very used to it. This year I actually had to wear "real" clothes. I missed real clothes! I have even reintroduced myself to many of the clothes in my closet. Those long idle "going out" clothes and shoes. Hello old friends...now let's see if you still fit and are still relatively in style.
Initially, I thought I would take the easy way out of a blog post and just show you the year in photos, kind of like the Life magazine or National Geographic "best of" yearly summaries without the professional writing and photography. I started out thinking I could just choose one photo of people and one of a place for each month. This proved to be impossible. I guess that means it really was a good year and when it wasn't good, it was interesting. I hope your year was one filled with good and interesting things.
January through mid-September was a roller coaster full of highs and lows. It began with TJ retiring and I think we both spent the next few months trying to figure out what to do with all of that new free time. Funny how a person works for over 40 years and the goal is to eventually not have to work anymore, except after 40 years, all you know how to do is work! Your identity is linked to that job and once the job is over you have to redefine yourself. Once he got to the shore, he had no problem happily filling all that time and owning his retirement!
Here is a video (because if I posted each of them individually here it would take until next year for me to finish this post!) of the first 8 1/2 months of the year and how we filled some of our newly acquired free time! The good, the bad and the interesting. Turn on your sound for the soundtrack.
Once we left the shore it was time to do exactly what we had hoped we would be doing in "retirement"!
We also took advantage of being "of sound mind and body" and used it before we lose it! The second half of the year was definitely more fun than the first half, at least for me! TJ may beg to differ, but I doubt it.
Happy New Year to all of you! Thank you for reading and allowing me this guilty pleasure. When I reflect, 2022 was a pretty good year for us. I hope it was for you as well. We all have ups and downs; I hope between them things are still interesting! Looking forward to what lies ahead. May God bless you and your family.
It was our last day walking the Camino. Part of me, mostly my feet, wanted it to be over as fast as possible and part of me, the part that felt like it was finally experiencing the true spirit of the Camino, wanted it to go on a lot longer. So it was with mixed emotions that I headed out that morning. There may have also been another part of me, the part that was deflated when I saw yet another wet morning on the horizon, that was just "over it!". With dry socks tucked away in my backpack and the best attitude I could muster up; I headed out that morning for the final walk.
We wiped the mud of Pradron off our shoes and headed north.
Almost every church had a cemetery attached. Staying close to God.
Each day on the Camino, I chose a group or groups of people to dedicate my prayers to while walking. With so many disconnected hours spent walking, there was plenty of time to pray...and it is, at the base, a religious pilgrimage. There were some groups, like my kids, siblings and Mom who got daily prayers but then there were also groups of people I focused on. If you are reading this, I probably prayed for you at one point or another. This final day, I decided to pray for all of our family and friends who had passed away. Sometimes I would just remember things about them, sometimes I would see things and think about how much they would love those same sights. Sometimes I would pray for specific blessings for them. Sometimes I would pray to them to help me make it up the next hill, or to take the pain of my aching toes off my mind or to just give me strength to make it to the end. One prayer always led to another, and one thought always led to another. I was also enjoying being "unplugged". I had decided that while walking I would only use my phone as a camera. I put it on mute and many days I kept it on Airplane Mode to save battery and avoid the temptation of checking any communications. It led to a very peaceful time.
Look! The rain stopped!
A peaceful walk
A church next to our morning coffee/bathroom stop.
So of course, we went inside! A youth group was up front being told about the church.
A little way out of this town the youth group caught up to us. It seemed that for the rest of the day we played cat and mouse with this group of teenagers. Either they were passing us, or we were passing them. Youth and energy abounded...and honestly, I was a little irritated if I must confess. Here I was being all contemplative and just trying to get through the day and these kids were just...having fun and being kids. How dare they! One funny story...at one point they said, "Buen Camino" to TJ who was passing them and the thing to do was to say it back, but TJ had not heard them because he had taken out his hearing aids due to the rain. I was a bit behind the group and saw one of the kids turn around to his friends and make a face and throw up his hands at TJ's ignoring them and they all snickered and joined in the mocking. I just had to come to his defense and told them, "He can't hear you", implying he was deaf or at least very hard of hearing, which he is, at which point they apologized. I knew they were good kids...or at least normal kids.
One or two rain showers later, I passed one of the groups of kids and was trying to get far enough ahead of them to have some space when I heard the sound of someone listening to YouTube or TikTok on their phone. Up to this point, I had not heard anyone playing music or listening to anything out loud on the Camino. I am sure people listen to stuff on their ear pods, but no one played anything out loud. I thought to myself, "really?!" and kept walking. It continued and I tried to listen and figure out what it was. It sounded like comedy or a skit since there was a lot of talking then laughing. I figured the kids were watching a video or something...and I listened. It was in English; they were Spanish speaking. Hmmm. I listened more. It was Ricky Gervais! I thought to myself, "of all the irreverent things to listen to on the Camino... Ricky Gervais?!!". I also wondered how these Spanish speaking kids were listening to and understanding Ricky Gervais. Their English must be better than I thought. Then two guys, late 20's or early 30's passed me and I thought to myself, "Ah, it must be they who are disrespecting the Camino with their Ricky Gervais" and figured at least once they passed me up the irreverent comedy would be out of earshot. But it wasn't. Mind you, I like Ricky, but there is a time and place for everything. At that point, I decided to look at my phone for some reason. To my utter horror and mortification, on my muted-airplane-mode phone, was Ricky Gervais Live playing for all the Camino to hear!!! I have never pushed "stop" faster in my life! I wanted to crawl in a hole! OK God...message heard, loud and clear! "Judge not, lest ye be judged!" Talk about getting a smack down! It took Ricky Gervais in my pocket to get that message through my hard head. I immediately asked for forgiveness for throwing those kids and the two guys under my Ricky Gervais bus of judgement!
I still am mystified by how Ricky Gervais Live started randomly playing, out loud... from my phone... in my pocket. Yes, I did watch his live show on Netflix...months ago. Why didn't my pocket play The Great British Baking Show instead? Just think of all the pocket punches that had to happen to get it to play again, I did, and it was mind boggling. I also need to give a disclaimer as to why it probably took me longer to figure out where the sound was coming from. I am deaf in my right ear. My phone was in my right pocket. I don't hear in stereo, I only hear from the left, which made me think Ricky was swearing and telling irreverent jokes from somewhere on my left side, not from my right pocket! Ugh...I was so mortified! I feel like I owe all of those people an apology. I sure hope God has a sense of humor too, because it really was funny in a slap your head kind of way. Needless to say, the rest of my day was spent walking in humility!
Only 4.7km left!!!
We were wishing they all looked like this!
Why is it that last bit seems like it takes the longest? We hit more rain, of course, and decided to stop for lunch with about 8 km to go. We were getting close! At lunch we aired out our soaked feet and put on our dry socks for the final trek. With our bellies full and our socks dry, we set off for the final leg. Less than 5km/3.1 miles to walk which I continued to equate with one of my easy morning walks. This perspective helped me along the Way because I knew I could walk that far at any time. It felt like it took forever. We could see our destination in the distance but first we had to walk through neighborhoods, parks, past schools and into the city. Once in the city the bottom dropped out and it poured! I mean, poured! So much for those dry socks we put on at lunch. We were soaked to the bone. We kept going dodging getting splashed by the passing buses and cars. City walking was very different than country walking.
The time we had to seek shelter in a doorway. Nobody but us silly pilgrims on the road.
Santiago de Compostela Old Town....we must be getting close!
It was with unexpected tears in my eyes that I entered the area in front of the Cathedral. I was overcome with emotion...and exhaustion. One of the other reasons for my tears was that for the entire day I felt very close to my dad, in prayers and thoughts. He had very limited physical abilities towards the end of his life and for some reason, my ability to do this Camino made me so thankful for my legs, my feet and my capable body. All things that he did not have at the end of his life, and I knew they were things he dearly missed. I carried him with me, because I could. This day definitely hit me with a few surprises!
The Santiago Cathedral
We did it!!!
Both our friends, Rick and Patty and we finished our Camino segment of 100 km. In all, we probably walked closer to 110 or 120 km, but who is counting? I am!!! We took the obligatory photos in front of the Cathedral and then made our way to the passport office to get our Compostela. I was so proud and regardless of the length of the line, I was going to get that piece of paper! Turns out, 4 people constitute a "group" and we got to skip the line and go to a "group" office which was much faster to get our certificates. I was chosen to fill out our information on the computer and the hardest part was choosing our professions...listed in Spanish. Basically, we are all retired but that was not a choice. Some choices were easy, "artista" which I assigned to Patty, "technical" which I assigned to TJ. Rick and I were not as easy. I clicked something with the word "professional" in the title...hope it wasn't wrestler! I have no idea what the Compostela office thinks my profession is! Something to do with "casa"...there was not a "mother of 4, wanna be photographer and golfer, loud player of irreverent humor on the Camino" choice. With our beautiful papers safely tucked away in their tubes, we proudly and with great relief, made our way to our hotel.
Santiago is a place I would love to visit again. We only spent one night there and really enjoyed the old town shops and restaurants. We ate to our hearts content that night. After all, it had been a 20+ mile day, we earned it! Dinner was delicious! The next morning, we experienced the icing on the cake! We attended Mass at the Cathedral. We arrived an hour early! We had been told it was necessary to get a seat, and maybe it was. The Mass was lovely and the countries of all the pilgrims who had finished the previous day were named at one point in the Mass. It was touching. But...the reason for the crowd, and a most unique experience, was when they lit and swung the botafumeiro (incense burner) and sent it into motion. A once in a lifetime experience. Share the experience below.
Would I do it again? Yes. Rain and all!
Take aways from the Way.
-There is something so peaceful and contemplative about getting up every morning and knowing that all you have to do is walk until you get there.
- The Camino is the great equalizer. We are all just putting one foot in front of the other and hoping to get there.
-There is something to be said for extended quiet time spent in nature.
- I cannot say how thankful I am for the patience of my husband and for his help in my rehabilitation post-surgery and his encouragement along the way.
- I am also thankful for my body. It carried me through and amazed me this year. There were definitely times I thought this was not even a possibility.
-Spain is beautiful and the people are wonderful. Does not hurt that the prices were the most affordable of our entire trip.
-You will not melt. We were rained on more times than I can count on this trip. At the end of the day, you will not melt, and your shoes will eventually dry.
-The Camino is a microcosm of life. We are all on the same path, doing it differently and at our own pace, faced with our own obstacles and advantages.
I am sure there are many more lessons that will make themselves obvious as time goes on. I knew the aching feet would be fleeting but the experience will last forever. It was a blessing and a privilege to walk the Way of St. James.
Day 3 of our Camino was when we really started to feel the Camino spirit. We had spent the night in Pontevedre, an absolutely lovely town we had the pleasure of exploring between rain showers, rest time and meals. We were now in the rhythm of waking up, getting ready, packing our bags that had to be at the front desk by 8 a.m., eating breakfast and hitting the road. Apparently, hundreds of other pilgrims were also on the same schedule. We had our first experience of a mass exodus that morning as we all crossed the bridge and walked through the town and eventually spread out into the countryside. Sooo many pilgrims, of all ages, wearing various types of rain gear, carrying everything from all of their possessions for the entire Camino to the most minimal crossbody bag. We jockeyed into our comfortable position eventually...the middle. It turned out to be a pretty good day.
Morning traffic on the Camino
I found myself wondering where all of the pilgrims had been hiding. It did not seem like there were that many people in town...where were they all? By not staying in communal albergues, we did not see the crowds. One woman I chatted with said she had started the French Camino and bailed after she could never find a room because there were so many pilgrims on that path. She came down to Porto to do the Portugues Camino instead. She said she was pleased with her decision. I must say I have a lot of respect for the women who venture out on the Camino solo. I am not sure I could or even would do it.
The day began dark and dreary. We had a bit of rain but not too bad, until the half hour drenching. Imagine getting rained on while it is already about 99% humidity and a bit warm. We were sweating on the inside of our rain gear and soaked on the outside. This was the day I was very thankful for the pair of dry socks in a ziploc bag in my backpack. I just knew walking in wet shoes and socks was going to result in blisters and I did not need blisters. My toes were already bruised from the constant walking. The good news is that about halfway through the day the weather improved dramatically! We were treated to some of the most scenic and beautiful paths of the entire Camino. We herded sheep! We talked to cows. We walked through grapevine arbors. For TJ and I it was one of our favorite days. I think our friends would not say the same. They were hurting. Between the sore feet, the hurting backs and hips from sleeping on rock hard beds not to mention the constant state of being wet from either sweat or rain, their stamina was waning. But we all did as you do on the Camino. We just put one foot in front of the other until you get to where you are going.
The muddy trail after the drenching rain.
One of the stops along the way and the point I decided walking the Camino is a lot like a day or a week skiing.
A stone cross along one of the flattest paths we walked.
One of my favorite parts of the day, walking through grapevine arbors. Oh...and the blue sky!
Herding sheep along the way!
The day ended in Caldas des Reis. We quickly found a place for lunch along the river and ordered to our heart's content. We were hungry! Again, we had to call a taxi to take us to our accommodations. The accommodations were amazing! Set along a river and top notch. There were not many people staying there, maybe 20. The rooms were lovely, and the beds were super comfortable for those of us who were suffering from the hard mattresses. The best thing was that there was a section of the river diverted onto the property and formed a waterfall into their pool. That beautiful cold water provided TJ and I with some much appreciated and needed ice therapy. At dinner that night we sat next to our new friends Maria and Juan from that morning in Pontevedra. We were making Camino friends as we chatted at the large table that night at dinner.
This was my favorite place along the way... and the most comfortable bed!
A river runs next to it...
And through it! Yes, that is my husband under the falls...freezing!
And me, icing my aching knees and feet!
The next morning was...wet. I also began the day behind everyone. I woke up late (I'm blaming the comfortable bed), they were ready to go much earlier than I was, so I was scrambling to leave. This place is also the new home of one of my adapters due to my scrambling. I ended up spending the entire day...behind everyone and wet. I just never caught up. We left with the hordes of other fools/pilgrims who left early. The closer to Santiago de Compostella you get, the more pilgrims there seem to be. Also, most of the people staying in albergues leave early so they can make their next destination early enough to get a bed. Our beds were guaranteed on our Camino Light. I walked wearing my raincoat, which I was very thankful I packed and am vowing to burn once I get home because I have never gone on a trip and experienced more rain than this one....it must be cursed! I also wore a rain poncho over everything to cover my backpack and provide extra protection. It was brutal. We walked through a National Forest, up and down some steep, muddy trails. At one point it was so dark in the forest it seemed like night. It would have been very spooky if I had been alone, but there were many other pilgrims. I was very thankful once we got out of the forest. The forest and the challenging hills gave me plenty of opportunities to pray, because at the end of the day, I was wet, sore and struggling to keep up but in the grand scheme of life, these were mere transient inconveniences when so many others in our world suffer from permanent health challenges. I had nothing to whine about and just kept moving forward.
This was a day we decided to stop for lunch along the way. We needed a break! We stopped at an aptly named lunch place, Buen Camino. I had to best Galacian soup ever! Warm with chorizo and kale? or cabbage? in a delicious broth! It again reminded me of lunch stops when we are skiing. Everyone burns a lot of energy in the morning skiing and battling the cold and then at lunch everyone piles into a restaurant for warm food to keep us going for the rest of the day. It was that same feeling except instead of cold we were wet! Similar level of exertion and exhaustion.
After lunch we happened upon a woman who was part of a larger group that we had seen all along our Way and always greeted when we saw each other. She referred to us as her "Vigo friends". We walked with her for about an hour and she just talked and talked. I decided she was one of the reasons I made it through that day. Listening to her for an hour made the time fly by! Thank you "Vigo friend"! Before I knew it, the rain had subsided, and we were closing in on our destination for the night. Padron. Famous for Padron peppers which are served roasted with salt and are delicious.
That night we had drinks and dinner with our new friends Maria and Juan and their friends from Australia, Steve and Cheryl. It was also Maria's birthday, so we celebrated together! Back in our rooms, our soaked shoes, socks and clothes were scattered around drying...we hoped! We all went to bed that night praying for better weather and in disbelief that tomorrow would be our last day! We might just be able to do this!
At least 6 miles of this today.
And then prayers were answered at the end of the day! The sun came out!
I hope they dry by morning!!! This had become a nightly ritual.
The Camino de Santiago is different for everyone. We each go our own Way. Roughly 450 people finish the Camino each day! We were 4 of those pilgrims on October 21st! If you had told me in April or even in June that I would be able to walk every one of the 110 kilometers on our Camino, I would never have believed it possible. It was with incredible pride, awe and exhaustion that we trudged the final kilometers, in pouring rain, to the ultimate finish line at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella. If you asked me today, "Would you do it again?", in a heartbeat...yes! Here is why.
We started, as so many do, full of energy, anticipation and curiosity. There may have also been a bit of trepidation wondering "can we do this?" Mind you, we chose to walk the last 100 km from Vigo, Spain to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The required distance you need to walk to get your Compostella. Let's just say we chose to do "Camino Light". We stayed in very nice accommodations, had a service move our bags from place to place and "only" did 100 km. Like I said, we each go our own Way. For the 4 of us, this was our Way and among our group there were still 4 different "ways". We did walk every step of the Way though.
We are ready to walk!
Only 96.4 more kilometers! Follow the yellow arrows!
We headed out, dark and early (sunrise was at 8:45!), on day 1 to find the Camino. 1.2km, which felt at least like 2 km, up a long hill in Vigo we finally found our first yellow marker and the actual Camino. We also experience our first act of kindness on the Camino when a woman, who noticed we had passed the Camino, guided us back to the correct street! Thank you for saving us the extra steps! We happily marched along enjoying the path. The views were very nice, we watched Vigo move away from our view and it seemed we did circles around the unique bridge in the distance as it moved from in front of us to next to us to behind us. We would eventually drive over that same bridge on our way back after our Camino!
The bridge to and from Vigo! I personally prefer this view to the one driving over the bridge!
Day 1 was full of everything new. Walking through Spanish neighborhoods, observing the landscapes and all the gardens and seeing my first Horreos (the rectangular little grain houses with crosses above the door pictured above). We walked through the forest, we saw a waterfall, and we walked through countless small villages. It didn't seem like we saw all that many other pilgrims on our first day. I was really hoping for the communal feeling I had heard existed on the Camino. I wondered if being in a close group of 4 would isolate us from others. Initially, I felt like maybe it had but in hindsight I think we just hadn't gotten into the Camino yet. We were still wide eyed and new.
Our first day was a long one...16 miles, roughly 25km! There were a lot of hills! Nothing like breaking in the feet and legs with a solid first day! We ended our day in Arcade, called a cab, per our instructions, which came and promptly drove us backwards about 3 miles to our accommodations for the night. The horror each of us experienced thinking of our trek back to that point was soon soothed when we found out they delivered us to our stopping point the next morning, whew!
The accommodation package I chose was labeled, Country Cottages. If this was a country cottage, I can't imagine what a country castle looks like! We drove through a very rough area, up some barely paved roads, up a hill and when we entered the grounds my jaw dropped! Firstly, the grounds were vast and meticulously manicured, and the house/castle was huge! When we entered it reminded me of an old castle you would go to for one of those "who done it" mystery nights. Mr. Green, in the conservatory with the knife. So old and yet well kept. Definitely a wedding venue too!
We felt like we had won the lottery. That night at dinner, we met a group of Pilipino nurses, all from the US, who had gone to school together, many years ago. They were walking the Camino as well. Following an even lighter Camino way than we were!
A lovely view of the grounds from our room!
The entrance!
Wedding reception area
We woke up the next morning with just as much motivation as the first morning. Plus, we knew this was a shorter day of walking. Surely it would be easier, right?! Nope! At least not for me. It was more fun, if one can possibly have fun while wearing a raincoat, perspiring underneath and starting to feel a few hot spots on my toes from the constant walking. I stayed positive, what else could I do? But every hill got harder and longer. There were a few bright spots along the Way. The bagpiper was the first! I could hear him around the corner and was thrilled when I saw him! Thank you, bagpiper! I bought my first Camino scallop shell from him. A little farther up the trail we came upon a fellow selling his wares, he also had water, which was much needed that warm, damp day. We counted two blessings before we got very far already. I think our biggest blessing that day was near the end of a bonus route we decided to take through the woods along a stream. The downside was that it added a few kilometers to our day, the good side was that near the end we found a great spot to sit, take off our shoes and soak our aching feet in some fresh cold water! It was heaven!
We finally made it to Pontevedra not a moment before it began to rain! Once again, our accommodations were ancient and castle-like. The place hosted a mix of bedraggled pilgrims, sharply dressed business people and a smattering of tourists. This is where we started to see some of the same faces and began finding our Camino friends. It was my first encounter with Maria and Juan who were fresh off 37 days walking the Camino Frances and decided to do a week on the Portuguese Camino! She exclaimed in the elevator, "I love the Camino!". That is a lot of walking!
We did make the mistake that day of skipping lunch on the trail and waiting until we reached our stopping point for the day. This meant lunch at 2:30 pm and some serious over ordering due to our level of hunger upon arrival. It also meant that we were not hungry at dinner, but we still needed to eat. We went to a tapas place, ordered a few tapas expecting tiny portions only to be shocked at the amount of food that landed on our table! We could not rise to the occasion. It was also the first place we got drenched in a rainstorm, which became the theme of the rest of our Camino.
I would follow this arrow anywhere!
Early morning full of hope and beauty!
Adding his eucalyptus bark cross to the fence.
The road was sometimes rocky...and uphill.
This felt sooo great!
Another "country cottage" in the middle of town!
Finding a table under the awning! Evening happy hour ritual!
I am pretty sure this was also the day at least 3 of us began to question whether our bodies were really ready for this commitment. Our toes were beaten and bruised. We were more than a little concerned about the weather forecast which showed nothing but rain on our horizon. Two days in and I was wondering where that great Camino experience was? I passed out moleskin and ibuprophen to everyone and we continued!
I am beginning to wonder where I actually live...and I think my friends and family are also beginning to wonder the same thing! This year has been a series of plans made, starts, stops, plans broken, plans re-made and a lot of mending along the way. You know what they say, "We plan,, and God laughs." He must be cracking up this year! I just hope the joke is over for the next month. That fateful fall on the ski slope in February changed our year's plans which have resulted in a very busy Fall!
After our summer in Nova Scotia, TJ had planned a leaf peeping bike tour in Vermont for the group we fondly refer to as our Red Solo Cup friends. Eight of us met in Vermont for an Inn to Inn bike tour covering over 100 miles in 4 days. One (TJ) out of the eight of us is a cyclist! No problem, right?! This was going to be the first real test for my knee to see just how strong and stable it really was. Turns out, it works just fine. I would say the trip was a great success. Eight people, between the ages of 60 and 70, rode bicycles over 100 miles, without incident or injury and had a great time doing it!
The Inns were charming, as were their hosts!
We felt, at times, (or maybe it was just me) like we had been dropped into an episode of Gilmore Girls as we stayed in small towns that resembled Stars Hollow with their gazebos in the town squares and the white steeples framed by tree covered mountains. The main streets were quaint, and each town seemed so small that you just knew everyone knew their neighbors. It was like riding through a postcard some days. The leaf color was not at its peak yet when we started, but by the end of the week things were getting a lot brighter.
Here are a few scenes from along the road...
Waterfall in Brandon, VT were it all began.
One of the many covered bridges along the way. Who doesn't love a covered bridge!!!
Plenty of farm stands and country markets with pumpkins and all things maple!
The British Fort at Crown Point, NY 1760
Love the mountain in the distance poking out of the clouds! The reason for one of my many, "Photo stop!" cries along the way.
White picket fences, lots of cemeteries and the occasional fall color!
If we saw one, we saw 20, tall white steeples.
Full circle back to Brandon, VT and one of the cutest town squares! Queue to town troubador!
When in Vermont....
This is what we came for! This, and a lot of great memories with some very good friends!
Once we got back "home" to Houston we shifted gears very quickly and went to our niece's wedding in Virginia. This wedding has been on the books for a year, so we knew what we were getting into when we scheduled the bike trip so close to the wedding weekend. What we didn't know when we made these plans way back pre-Feb. 2nd, was that this wedding weekend would not be the end of our travel season but sandwiched between two trips that were originally scheduled 5 months apart instead of two weeks apart. God is still laughing.
The wedding was full of family, fun, and lots of love! The bride and groom were glowing as they made the most of their special day. We do love a good party, so suffice it to say by the end of the weekend our voices were cracking from all of the talking and our feet were in desperate need of some ice therapy from all of the dancing. Weekend bonus- all seven Mahoney siblings were together at the wedding and all four of our children/adults were there too! It was a family frenzy!
And now we are home, once again unpacking, only to repack. It wasn't supposed to be this way, but it is. We are finally taking the trip we planned to take last April...instead of having ACL surgery. Talk about delayed gratification. I must say planning this trip while doing all of my rehab gave me something to do, something to look forward to and a goal to work towards. It has served as a giant carrot dangling in front of me, motivating me to get out there and get stronger. I am not absolutely sure if I am there yet, I am praying for some adrenaline to kick in once we start! Next week, we will be on the Camino de Santiago, walking our way to Santiago de Compostela. No, we are not doing the entire Camino! We will walk the final 100 km of the Portuguese Camino into Santiago de Compostela. Shoot....if I can ride a bike 100 miles I should be able to walk 100 km...right? Stay tuned!
