Seven years ago today my sister and I walked into the Plaza de Obradorio after finishing our 500-mile journey on the Camino de Santiago. In our last podcast, Tony and I talked about the meaning behind the name of our podcast and what it means to each of us be a pilgrim- then… and now.

When I realized that today was the seven-year anniversary of that day, I decided to read an excerpt from the ending of my book The Art of Walking: An Illustrated Journey on the Camino de Santiago that I wrote documenting that moment. When I read the words I used to describe what the essence of being a pilgrim meant to me, I wouldn’t change a thing - even seven years later. They still feel true and powerful to me, and so today I want to share them with you.

We arrived in Santiago on the grey morning of June 9, 2013. That day is imprinted in my mind. We rose in the dark and walked single file through the woods, the smell of eucalyptus drifting around us. We wanted to secure a seat at the crowded Pilgrim’s Mass in the cathedral and a chance to watch the immense botafumeiro swing out over the huge crowds of people, trailing incense and ritual equally in its wake. Mostly we wanted to celebrate the end of our pilgrimage. We had done it. We had walked the entire five hundred miles. 

If I could tell you what life was like on the Camino and have you truly understand it, I would. Two years later, I still struggle to find the words to communicate how the trip changed me. It was a glimpse into a different kind of life. After the grief I had experienced, I was ready for something new. I started to live life with my heart open again. I started to be grateful for every day and to live in the present. I was actually living out eucharisteo, and it was transforming me. 

I believe the Camino is a small preview of what heaven might be like. Or at least my limited imagination wants that to be true. We get to just be. We have no distractions, just the simplest responsibility: to delight in the beauty of the moment. We create community with strangers that enter our lives for merely an hour and those that we travel with for weeks. We share ourselves freely, and in doing so we remove the masks and artifice we usually hide behind. We desire to shed our possessions rather than collect them to prove our success or worth. We are all equal on the Camino. We have a common goal. A shared destination. 

All of this felt like freedom. A radically true freedom I had never known before. My response was unabashed worship. Removed from the chaotic noise of my daily life, I began to see and hear with a clarity that brought a simple revelation: God delights in me and pours out His love on me. In return, I delight in Him. 

I think all pilgrims sense this, even if they don’t recognize it or call it “God.” The Camino tradition is steeped in 1,200 years of human hearts seeking something more, something healing. We slow down to a pace where we can actually see what’s around us and feel something as elemental as our lungs expanding and our feet moving. It’s startling to realize that these simple things can make us happy. More than that, they can pull us beyond happiness into the deeper and more profound feeling of joy. 

Capturing this experience on paper in drawings and words felt essential because I had never before felt so fulfilled and satiated at the close of a day. My tasks were few. Walk, eat, drink, talk, share, draw, and sleep. The pattern of the day was soothing and comforting, like the melody of a song you can’t name but insist you’ve heard before. Without a doubt, however, you know it’s the melody you’ve been longing to hear. It wells up in your gut and pounds its beat into your heart and your blood and your step. It’s hard to explain how walking can heal the soul, but I am here to tell you it can.

The images below are from the two page spread in my book documenting June 9th, 2013. The drawing on the left was sketched and painted in my journal while we sat in the pew of the cathedral waiting for the Pilgrim’s Mass to start that same afternoon. I find the Pilgrim’s Blessing I quoted on this page especially significant after talking with Tony about why we chose to use ‘Lost’ as the modifer to Pilgrim in our name.

“Blessed are you Pilgrim, if what concerns you most is not to arrive,
as to arrive with others.”

This podcast and the conversations we have here are a blessing to us and we hope they are a blessing to you. Thank you for being a part of the Pilgrim Lost community and walking with us on this journey.