Nearly a month after returning I am still trying to make come to terms with post-camino life.
On the camino living was easy. Every day I woke feeling happy and full of optimism and with a sense of purpose. Decisions were limited, what to wear, and how far to go lunch and a few thoughts about where to to stay the night. Everything else was decided by walking the camino. Everybody I met was friendly and it was possible to spend time with people I wanted to be with.
Now I am living in a parallel universe. Some people would say it is "real life". It certainly seems real enough and is depressingly familiar. I am very busy and caught up in village business, old friends and family life, but I miss the certainty and sense of purpose that walking to Santiago gives to everyone on the camino. I miss not eating, sleeping and walking and talking to the new friends. I miss not seeing you Eloïse, whose bold and open approach to life was inspirational.
"all good things must come to an end" (Geoffrey Chaucer 1374)
"and the bad things too" (Eccles from the "Goon Show" circa 1955)
Meanwhile Facebook continues to give glimpses of the camino friends in another parallel universe.
© JR 2013