I’m on the plane heading to Lisbon via Chicago and Madrid. There are 7 in our group on this plane and we will meet 19 others in Lisbon tomorrow. It sounds overwhelming. It has taken many of us to coordinate this effort and we remain flexible and good spirited despite a variety of “technical” issues which arise.
It is heartening to me to be asked by a relative stranger on the plane to be included in receiving my blogs. Everyone I speak to is so interested in what our group is doing. To me, it speaks of people’s interest in stepping out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary. Many of us “stepped” out more when we were younger and didn’t have so many responsibilities. Perhaps we have seen these responsibilities as limitations. What I now believe is I must do what I think is important or I will have regrets. Death is inevitable no matter how we live our lives. In his book, The Pilgrimage, by Paulo Cohelo, he writes that it is this knowledge that can motivate us to have the experiences in life that we desire and to be more daring in stepping out of the norm. I believe we can break away from these self imposed limitations so that we can have true meaning in our lives. These experiences may really embody our true nature and help us to find our soul’s purpose.
5 hrs later: Ok, this is probably the worst flight experience I have ever had. Its noisy, bright lights are still on, the noise that signals a call to a flight attendant occur multiple times every minute and is a high pitched piercing tone that screams through the ear buds of my earphones. It’s worse than a hospital. So I get up ,stretch,use the facilities, and start talking to friends. I’m in the aisle, people going around me to use the facilities. It’s about 10:30 pm. Finally a man chastises me for preventing him from falling asleep. I can so relate! So I give up the little bit of joy I was having on this flight and am back in my seat lamenting my own inability to sleep. At least the incessant overhead piercing tones frequently emanating from the speakers has reduced in frequency and intensity. Last overnight flight in economy for me. Too dang old for this!
On a more serious note when we arrived in Lisbon we found out about the train that crashed on the way to Santiago de Compostela which is the final destination of our Camino experience. The train was full of pilgrims who were going to Santiago for the celebration of the festival of St James. The celebration has been cancelled and the town is in mourning. It is a sad time.
Tomorrow Tomar and Fatima…
