Today was a fairly ordinary day. You would think that they would all be filled with excitement and new adventures and stories to tell. But the truth is, just like "real life", much of our days are repetitive -- walk, eat, walk eat, walk, eat, sleep, repeat -- forcing us to find for ourselves the extraordinary in the ordinary.
There were many families on the Way today. It was fun to see young children and teenagers, parents and grandparents, in various couplings, on foot and on bicycle.
We wanted to help a young girl on a bike go up a steep hill, but she didn't appear to speak English and I think we made her more nervous than we would have been helpful.
We laughed when teenagers passed by, trying to be "cool" with their backpacks slung over one shoulder or trying to walk with pants low on their hips.
We're still getting used to all the perfume and small backpacks and white tennis shoes.
We met one family though who we really connected with. "Our family", as we've nicknamed them, is a group of 3 generations. At first we followed them, laughing at the kids who held out "selfie sticks" to take group photos. But during one of their photo shoots we passed them and they noticed Rand's tattoo. After which Grandpa, with his "old fashioned" DSLR camera with an extensive zoom lens, asked Rand if it was okay if he took a picture. Then showing us his own tattoo, a cross which we think represents one of the other pilgrimage routes. They speak very rapid Spanish, but we were able to communicate that this is our second Camino and that we got the tattoos last year after walking from St. Jean to Leon together.
They walk faster than us, with their new hiking boots, matching outfits, small backpacks, and blister-free feet. But we bumped into them several times along the Way and they seemed just as excited to see us as we were to see them. Definitely a bright spot in our ordinary day.
I can already imagine us celebrating together in Santiago!
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