Just Thirty Days...
June 1: Only thirty days until my "C-day" (see previous post) and now I am getting nervous though that edginess about the upcoming adventure is mixed with excitement and a sense of mission.
I have packed my backpack and given it a name (it was produced by a company called "Gregory" and so it has been dubbed officially "Gregory the Great" (non-church types will have to Google the name to learn more here). My boots are fitting great these days; I took a risk and spent a lot of money on this Meindle brand out of Bavaria, but it was worth the investment because they now fit like gloves...and feel like gloves on my feet. I've been to the doc and he says my cholesteral is perfect (with the help of a pill), my blood pressure is right where it should be (with the help of a pill), and my heart is ticking the way it was designed to tick (with the help of several pills).
There is just one problem: I've developed a hitch in my right knee that has become rather painful at times, while at other times it is barely noticeable. The fickleness of it is what bugs me most. Some are telling me that I'm finally feeling the dark side of 35 years of jogging. Maybe. I go in to see the orthopedist down the street later this coming week; then I guess I'll know. I went out yesterday for a two hour hike with my pack loaded to 25 pounds and as the walk progressed through the soft and green Egenhoven Woods the knee got better and better so that is a hopeful sign. I'm looking for hopeful signs, of course, because I do not intend to let this knee keep me from my pilgrim mission...and it now truly feels like a mission. I MUST go! I'm being drawn, called, pulled, jerked onto this road. If Santiago wants me back, then he will have to take care of me along the way. I'm trusting this one to him. I feel like I know him, having done this once before (though, admittedly, on a much smaller scale).
I'm also deep into the process of letting go of my world here in Louvain. It is not so easy and my patience is thinning even as my focus on daily tasks and responsibilities gets more diffuse. "Authority" here is running through my fingers like sand. So I'm doing my best to ride this last month as it comes and not take the daily problems or upsets or demands too seriously. This parting is a sweet sorrow and one I'm trying to savor even as I wish it were already over. Am I counting down the days? Look at the title of this post: of course I am! I can't wait to begin my new pilgrim life though in the end it will not be so different from my present and past life since I remain who I am here or there. Pilgrims don't escape...they just walk more freely for awhile.
Grace and peace!
I have packed my backpack and given it a name (it was produced by a company called "Gregory" and so it has been dubbed officially "Gregory the Great" (non-church types will have to Google the name to learn more here). My boots are fitting great these days; I took a risk and spent a lot of money on this Meindle brand out of Bavaria, but it was worth the investment because they now fit like gloves...and feel like gloves on my feet. I've been to the doc and he says my cholesteral is perfect (with the help of a pill), my blood pressure is right where it should be (with the help of a pill), and my heart is ticking the way it was designed to tick (with the help of several pills).
There is just one problem: I've developed a hitch in my right knee that has become rather painful at times, while at other times it is barely noticeable. The fickleness of it is what bugs me most. Some are telling me that I'm finally feeling the dark side of 35 years of jogging. Maybe. I go in to see the orthopedist down the street later this coming week; then I guess I'll know. I went out yesterday for a two hour hike with my pack loaded to 25 pounds and as the walk progressed through the soft and green Egenhoven Woods the knee got better and better so that is a hopeful sign. I'm looking for hopeful signs, of course, because I do not intend to let this knee keep me from my pilgrim mission...and it now truly feels like a mission. I MUST go! I'm being drawn, called, pulled, jerked onto this road. If Santiago wants me back, then he will have to take care of me along the way. I'm trusting this one to him. I feel like I know him, having done this once before (though, admittedly, on a much smaller scale).
I'm also deep into the process of letting go of my world here in Louvain. It is not so easy and my patience is thinning even as my focus on daily tasks and responsibilities gets more diffuse. "Authority" here is running through my fingers like sand. So I'm doing my best to ride this last month as it comes and not take the daily problems or upsets or demands too seriously. This parting is a sweet sorrow and one I'm trying to savor even as I wish it were already over. Am I counting down the days? Look at the title of this post: of course I am! I can't wait to begin my new pilgrim life though in the end it will not be so different from my present and past life since I remain who I am here or there. Pilgrims don't escape...they just walk more freely for awhile.
Grace and peace!
