There is a special place on the Camino where you leave your burdens behind. Most people carry a rock from home with them and then leave it behind on the hill below the cross that seems to stretch towards the sky.
My friend Diane was a step ahead of me (a trait of 100% of my friends). She gave me a heart shaped stone to take on my journey. It remained in my backpack until it was time to let go of my burdens at Cruz de Ferro. The irony was the lightness of the porous rock that was her gift. The metaphor made an impact on me. Over the last two years my world turned upside down and there was a lot of pain to work through. But it was the people who surrounded me that lightened those burdens for me along the way…so I didn’t have to carry them all the way to Cruz de Ferro. My own pain was lifted along the way by so many people. My college best friends, my tennis lunch buddies, my Port Street momma friends, my Friday night hiking picnickers, my Sunday night barbecue pals, my Atlanta bffs, my extended family, my Kenyan girls, my biking buddies, my pals who always had a meal waiting for me, my Tuesday night group who kept me grounded in faith and red wine, my new Camino family. All these people lifted my burdens along the way. My rock at Cruz de Ferro symbolized the lightness that I carry because so many people surrounded me and absorbed my burdens. And for that I thank each and every one of you.
Today’s post is dedicated to the children supported by C2CKenya who attend Mt. Olive Academy in Kenya. The young girls playing volleyball during recess is such a joy to watch when you consider what they could be doing if they weren’t in school.
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