Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned

We left St Jean de Pied Port at about 5:30 this morning. Neither one of slept well in anticipation of the day ahead. I will admit, we had heard so many of the young people say that they were taking the less strenuous route, that we began to wonder if we had made the right choice. I am here to say, we made the right choice.

First, it was hard, but hard is not a bad thing at all. The beauty of this area is like a dream. I could post picture after picture but you would not be able to capture all that is the Pyrenees. Instead, I shall have you over for a meal or warm drink and tell you the stories of this place. There was a beautiful mountain fog that enveloped the valleys of this range and in a moment it would clear and the views would take your breath away. We knew the moment when we crossed from France into Spain and only took our photo as this was all you could see. We walked about ten hours that day but we stopped several times for coffee, bread, salami, cheese, nuts, fruit, and an occasional beer. It was like heaven...

The second thing I learned this day was that we don't need to have everything we want nor do we have to have everything we need. We just need to figure out how to do with what we have. Tom's trekking pole malfunctioned 100 feet into the trip. It was dark, we were alone and he could not get the clasp to stay put. At home we would just grab a screwdriver and fix it but we had no tools with us. We improvised and the pole is working just fine (yes, it has to do with a butter knife).

We are taking in all that is before us. The hours of quiet are giving us time to think and contemplate all that is around us. We are savoring each and every moment, even the hard ones. Every beautiful places reminds us of you...we carry you in our hearts.