I can’t believe it’s finally here. Departure day.
Over the last week I started to count the time remaining by the number of tasks left. On Friday I finished packing, so this weekend it came down to: Baptism, done. Sermons, done. Premarital counseling appointment, done. Then finally that odd feeling came over me — what have I forgotten?
I now realize the deeper meaning the what have I forgotten actually represents. It’s really saying, I can’t believe I’m walking out the door with only a 10-pound pack on my back and a month to journey far away from home. As with every pilgrimage I’ve walked, this slow adventure means briefly “forgetting” almost everything comfortable and familiar and becoming happy with simple accommodations, scant privacy, aching feet, and a distant destination that appears slowly to tear-filled eyes and a joyful heart.
I will miss everything about home, and I will cherish everything new while I’m away. I’ll step on the plane in a few moments, bound for Rome, giving thanks for Gail and home and church and friends, and I will trust myself once more to the Pilgrim Road which rises to meet me.
At the Seattle airport, awaiting flights to Amsterdam then Rome. May 12, 2013
Caminoist 
Hey hermano……pareces un poquitito cansado, pero yo se que por dentro tienes mucha energia y felicidad!! Un hermoso viaje, buen camino y hablamos tras las millas (o sea kilometros)
Buon viaggio!
Suerte !
I’ve got another week to go before I fly to London and then onward to France. Blessings to you on your journey. How did you manage only 10lbs!!!!
You will be: missed, prayed for, thought of, lifted up, cursed-for-not-being-around-to-solve-a-problem, and many more things.
I wish we could meet somewhere along your pilgrimage. I live in Tuscany…
Buon viaggio,
Gary (Baptist pellegrino)
Following you my friend.
All the best Sandy, I hope you love it all.
Oh, how I feel the pilgrims heart burning. It is a fire, only whichone who was changing every day life with the pilgrims life, realy can understand what it means to be on camino. I wish you from the bothem of my heart a wonderful pilgrimage with every day his apparentness and adventure.
Travel mercies and God Bless the path you walk on. Buen Camino.