For some time, I supposed that once the Camino experience was finished and I had returned home, I would have all manner of wisdom and insight to share in this blog.  What I have discovered is that I’m nearly speechless after having completed the pilgrimage.  It is easy enough to talk about the tourist itinerary of walking through northern Spain; but searching for words to explain the mystical nature of the experience seems beyond both my mind and my imagination.

I had this same experience of the insufficiency of words as we walked each day.  We walked in silence much of the time. When Sandy would ask me what I was thinking about, I could seldom really explain myself.  One day, about halfway through the region of Rioja, I said that it seemed to me that all the important lessons or insights about life and pilgrimage could be stated in six words or less.  After some reflection and musing over several days, these are the insights that came to me:

• Appreciate those who walk with you.
• One people; many paths; one destination.
• Don’t judge others’ motivation or behavior.
• My certain knowledge is usually wrong.
• The world is full of angels.
• Most angels look just like you.
• Sometimes, you find your own way.

Someday I plan to write about these insights and what they mean for me; but for now, I am off to a week in Colorado with my second-oldest grandson for his male initiation rites. Keep Roland in your prayers and thoughts.