I can’t honestly remember when I first heard of the ‘Camino’ – also referred to as the Camino de Santiago (The Way of St James) or simply, “The Way”.

I knew it was a pilgrimage; one of the oldest in the world – right up there with the pilgrimages to Rome, Mecca and the Holy Land.

I knew you walked – a lot!
And I knew you could encounter God along the way.

Oddly enough, in the same way that I instinctively knew I was born to be a Social Worker and I knew I'd be married and have children, I knew that, someday, I’d walk the Camino.

‘After retirement’ was designated as the most likely time for my adventure in Spain - allowing me to safely file away all serious thoughts of a pilgrimage for a time in the far distant future.

As a Social Worker in a Catholic healthcare system - run by people who believe your reward for hard work will be in heaven, not grounded in a pension plan – and as the sole surviving parent raising two sons, the financial possibility of EVER being able to retire seemed soooooo remote that, for years, I didn’t give my Camino too much thought.

If I had a dime for every time I told someone that I’d never retire, that my retirement plan was leaving work in a body bag, I probably could have retired sooner.
(OK, that may be a slight exaggeration, but I said it a lot!)

I settled, in my spiritual journey through adulthood, for walking myriad labyrinths  – substitute pilgrimages since the middle ages -  for those unable to travel to foreign lands due to lack of resources or time.

I had wonderful times on pilgrimages to other locales less exotic than Spain  - New Harmony, Indiana; Taize and Chartres, France; New Franken, Wisconsin and Iona, Scotland, to name a few. (Trust me, it doesn't get less exotic than New Franken, Wisconsin)

But it was during my trip to Iona earlier this year, at the age of 63, that I heard quite clearly from God (yeah, I didn't think I was that person either) that I didn’t have 5+ more years to give to my job; my job was killing me – physically, spiritually and emotionally – and I had to change my life NOW - unless I was truly serious about the whole body bag thing.

Turns out, I wasn't.

God and I don’t talk on a daily basis.
While communication between us is daily, it’s more an” I talk, He listens” arrangement; so when he DOES chime in, I tend to take Him very seriously.

With retirement now looming imminently on the horizon, suddenly, my walk on the Camino was more than just a remote possibility.
It was practically here.