i walk alone.  what does that conjure up for you?  what feeling does it bring up?  does it sound positive, or negative?  please give that some thought before continuing, because i think about this myself a lot.  i walk alone.  before the camino, i think hearing that phrase would conjure up a lonely person, someone unable to find someone to walk with, or someone who wasn´t interested in finding someone with whom to walk because they were an unfriendly person.  i walk alone.  now, that sounds so sweet to me.  it is something that one hears a lot on the camino, as people meet and greet each other.  it almost has a holy feel to it-i walk alone.  i am not walking to please anyone else, i am here for me, and for whatever this camino has in store for me, just for me.  i don´t want to miss it by chatting just as something profound, yet intangable might be revealed to me.  i walk alone.  it is almost like saying ´i have business here on the camino.  business between me and nature, me and god.´ for in truth, we all know that there really is no alone-we are one with the spirit, with the divine, whatever you choose to call it, at all times whether we are aware of it or not.  it breathes us, it wakes us up in the morning, and we live, move and have our very being-ness in it every minute of every day. 

i walk alone.  i have gotten so that i love saying it.  i love knowing it, and feeling it.  instead of fear or anxiety, i feel joy when i say it, or think it.  i walk alone.  it makes me laugh, because as i walk-alone to the eye- i take time to connect with you, my family and friends, my spiritual community, my ancestors, and my fellow pilgrims.  i feel as if i am a drop of water flowing in a stream-how can i be alone?!?!!  i am always with you, just as nana and papa have both shown me that they are with me.  and as i relax into my pace of walking, i often can feel your prayers coming to me on the wind, in the birds´songs, and being carried on the fields of wheat as they move in green waves as the breeze plays with them.   there are so many times my eyes fill with tears as i think of you, and know how much you have made me into the person that i am, with the time, however short or long, that we have spent together.   thank you, thank you thank you for whatever way you have blessed my life.  you walk with me, as i walk alone.
peace and blessings-
a