FOLLOW ME..… MY OWN CAMINO CHEER TEAM…. Life is Good.

Interestingly enough, I thought I was alone in my adjustment to Michael being gone.  It became clear to me that all of the family and friends were in distress.  The void was there.  My decision to walk the Camino seemed to (somewhat) fill the void. This surprised me.

Amazingly, my far flung idea to walk the Camino captured their imagination.  It gave the younger great-grand children something tangible to focus on.  I was going to walk the Camino as a pilgrim in honor of their Great-grand Father who they dearly loved and missed.   At Christmas time a number of the family gifted me Camino gear.  Cap, neck and head cover, light sleeping bag, head lamp and other helpful things.   Days before my departure for Spain, my Grand Daughter Christy gave me letters in envelopes from family members to be read on the Camino.   She handed one which was from her to be read only in the event that I thought I was going to give up.  I never opened it.  Just knowing it was there in my backpack was all the encouragement I needed.

A month before leaving for Camino I purchased a map of Spain which marked the El Camino de Santiago Compostela Frances route.  I picked up post-it arrows for my great-grand children to mark each town   where I stayed the night.  Each day I would take pictures and post information and the photographs on Facebook about the things I saw along the way, hopefully interesting and educational.  They hung it on the wall next to the front door, where it was not to be missed.

During a run with one of Christy’s long distance running friends and her son, Cody’s 3^rd grade teacher at the local elementary school, Christy shared with her my intention to walk the Camino.  Her friend was intrigued with the plan.  She indicated that she wanted to be added to my Camino Facebook group to follow my adventure.  I think that may have been the run when Christy asked her friend if she would like me to come to her class to talk about the Camino and perhaps follow me on the map of the El Camino.  She said … of COURSE!!

A week before I left for the Camino, I had an appointment with MS Harvey and MS Noriega to give my Camino talk to their 3^rd grade classes.   Packed in my car was my completely filled backpack, my carefully broken in trail boots, my light weight titanium walking poles, my Camino guidebook, and trail hat, post-it arrows and their map of Spain Camino route.

Giving talks are easy for me, I have given many talks and presentations over the years.  In fact, unlike most people, I enjoy giving talks.  However, giving a talk to about 50 nine year old kids is a first for me.  The attention span is quite limited.   As a side note, I take my hat off to all the teachers who teach our children.  It is not easy to keep the attention of the little souls.

Christy gave me supplies of construction paper and red string for students to make a paper shell, which is a symbol worn by pilgrims.   She said, to make it interactive and to have them wear it for a group picture.  Very good suggestion, they loved it.

The kids from MS Noriega’s class marched into MS Harvey’s classroom and took their places on the floor, followed by MS Harvey’s students.  All my stuff I brought was placed interestingly in front of them on a nearby table.

I started by asking some questions to see if I could engage them. I asked, does anyone know what a “journey” means.  Several eagerly raised their hands.  I picked the boy in the front row.  I was stunned at his response.  He said, “A journey is when you discover something along the way”.   Wow I thought.. I was surprised at the depth of the answers to the questions I asked.   We talked about doing things that push our boundaries and limits.  We talked about never being too old or young to try things.   In addition, we discussed trying to meet goals and meeting them.  If we found we didn’t to be brave and reset our goals.

I asked if any of them had traveled to other countries.  They raised their hands or excitedly shouted out the places.  One kid said he had been to Detroit.   I told him that I could see where you might think Detroit was foreign.  Shortly after this I asked for volunteers to hold up the map that they would be tracing my way across Spain.  A boy and a girl came forward and proudly held the 48 inch map.  My finger followed the route across northern Spain all the way to the end of the held up map.  Pointing to the end of the map,  I asked the kids is this the end?  … Heads shook yes… I instructed the map holders to flip the map.  All their eyes opened wide when I traced most of the other side to the end, Santiago.

After the talk, the children constructed their shell necklaces with glee.  I walked around checking each student’s progress until finally all the shells were strung with the red string and proudly placed around their necks.   So off we went to the outside school steps to take our pilgrim picture.  This group would be known as Team Harvey and Team Noriega my own “Camino Cheer Team” along with family and friends and co-workers past and present…. Go Team !