One month

In one month, I'll be heading to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in Southern France.
I have almost everything I need: backpack, hiking boots, hiking socks, and a few items that a multitude of Camino forums have indicated as essentials for survival on the Camino.

While I may still have few things to get to fill my pack, I am as ready as I'm ever going to get emotionally. It will be hard to leave my children behind, of course, yet I know that this trip is what I must do. This pilgrimage has become more than just a dream; over the past few months, it has grown into a necessity.

It all started with a movie. A desire to disconnect one evening from the mayhem of a dysfunctional relationship that was drawing to an end. In the midst of this life changing event that I was fully emerged in, a breath of air coming from Spain. A path to an unknown that was holding the promise of clarification, if not enlightenment. I was leaving to stop and reflect on the past 10 years, and I had found no better way to "stop" than to walk for 500 miles.

So here I am. One month pre-camino. Eager to start my path. My camino. I was uncertain what I would make of it, but was sure of one thing, and one thing only. This was the only path back to myself.

Credencial del Peregrino