Last night, in the tent I pitched in our backyard here in California to remind us of our first night together in the Pyrenees mountains, we reminisced about the night before we first met.
I distinctly remember lying in my bunk, thinking that I must be crazy. I was lonely and alone. Sharing a room and a shower with a bunch of strangers. Many who didn't speak English. I was jet lagged and car sick and had no idea what I'd gotten myself into. Who was I to think that I could walk across Spain, alone?
Across town Randy was in his own albergue. He was nervous and excited. Wondering if he should have spent another night in his fancy hotel in Barcelona instead of taking that flight and then the taxi to share a room and a shower with a bunch of strangers who didn't speak English.
We had no idea that night what God had planned for our morning.
Do you have any of those moments that you can look back on? The night before your life changed forever? Maybe it was the night before you met your special someone. The night before your wedding or the night before you proposed. The night before your first child was born. Or maybe it wasn't that dramatic of a day. Maybe it was just the night before some sort of Divine Intervention that you had no idea was coming, but would be the beginning of something. Like Randy and I meeting.
The first thing we did this morning was thank God for that Divine Intervention. Because serving God is all about recognizing his role in the who, what, when, where, and how of this relationship. We thanked God for making sure that we were both in St. Jean Pied de Port on the same night. To begin our walk across Spain on the same morning. For making sure we were both the last to leave our albergues. And that the shop would be closed when Randy went in search of white fuel for his camping stove. And that I would take the time to stop and buy a Camino shell to wear on my backpack, take photos with a young Korean, and step onto a side street to check my map. Where I would just happen to step into the photo being taken by a man from California.
The 365 days since have been so full. From the joys and trials of walking across Spain together, to the joys and trials of getting to know each other in America. From the loneliness of being across a continent from each other, to the pain of breaking a foot and losing a grandchild. From the challenges of learning to navigate "real life" together, to the adventures of a cross-country road trip and creating a home in California. And now to discerning our future together.
The first step, of course, being to go back to Spain--just 9 days from now--and finishing what we started.
Buen Camino!
And just for fun, the video I made Randy for "Divine Intervention Day". Each day we walked together I took a video of the path we were on. And I finally got around to putting them all together. Set to the song "Happy", which we heard in every bar in Spain, and ending with a roadside labyrinth outside of Leon where we parted ways...
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