Monday Morning Musings
Posted on September 16, 2019 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet
“And death shall have no dominion.” Dylan Thomas
First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you who sent messages of condolences on the death of my brother, Tom. I want you to know that I read every e-mail, text, private message, Week45 comment, telephone message and Facebook post. There were simply too many to respond to individually. Just about every one of you reading this will likely have experienced death up close and personal. It is easy to get overwhelmed with the outpouring of support, if that makes any sense. I think that the mind and heart only have a limited capacity to absorb all this when they are in grief mode.
Death is so complex. There’s not a day goes by when we don’t hear about someone’s loss and while we try and comfort the best we can, grieving is very personal. We scan through the obituaries daily and then casually move on to the sports page. It is only when it hits close to home that you realize that every death notice carries with it suffering and pain.
We will miss our brother terribly, as you miss your loved ones. We’re all in this together.
I did the Cabot Trail again this past weekend. What? Have you completely gone bonkers? I joyfully drove the Cabot Trail with two dear friends on Saturday. My friends wanted a guided tour of the Trail which also gave me the opportunity to stop by and thank several people along the way who helped me on my walk for Simone a few weeks back. It was a beautiful sunny day. We saw many moose and one whale which is a pretty decent tally if you ask me. However, the moose were all affixed to road signs and the whale was painted on a mural at the lookout on Mackenzie Mountain overlooking Pleasant Bay! We had a lot of laughs, had some great food and shared some stories. It was the perfect tonic for me after spending the day after Tom’s death huddled up at home. Thanks, Kathy and Linda from the bottom of my heart.
By the way, I am a measly $115 short of the $8,000 mark. I will close the account later today but will graciously receive a last minute donation! You can e-transfer me at lenpdmacdonald@gmail.com
I have completed my Camino book and it is now on sale through Amazon. The title is “Eat, Sleep and Walk: Stories from the Camino”. Hard copies are being shipped to me this week so they should go on sale locally next week at the 5 to $1.00 store or you can track me down to buy one. I’ll let you know when they arrive. Each chapter of the book contains four distinct segments: the first part is a brief description of where I walked on any particular day along with a smattering of the history of that part of Spain; the second part is a blow by blow description of what I experienced each day; the third part contains an interview of people I met along the trail; and the fourth part contains “Camino Tips”. These tips might be useful for someone contemplating doing the Camino.
In my estimation, the interviews form the core of the book. I interviewed people from all over the world during my Camino walk. When we had all completed our walk, I asked each of them some follow up questions about their personal journey. I asked five questions: 1) who are you. 2) Where are you from? 3) What do you do or what did you do for a living? 4) Why did you come to walk the Camino? 5) What are your observations or key takeaways from doing the Camino? I think you will find these stories quite compelling.
The inspiration for the book came from my brother, Tom, who did the Camino in 2018. He had a chance to read the book before he passed.
I hope you enjoy the book.
Have a great day.
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