here i am in finisterre, breathing a deep sigh of contentment, gratitude, and joy.

ias i mentioned, i have been kind of surprised at how tired i have felt now, as opposed to before.   while i was walking i pretty much never felt tired.  i just woke up each morning happy to get up and walk again.  sometimes i would notice that the walking was difficult, like when i was walking up a steep hill, but apart from falling into bed tired each night, i didn´t feel exhausted.  that changed when i stopped walking.  i noticed it the day i arrived in santiago, and especially the next day.  then yesterday when i took the bus here, i really felt it. so after my 3 hour siesta yesterday i got up and walked down to the small beach right in the center of town.  ithere were a couple of abuelas with their grandkids in the water, one naked little toddler running in and out of the water, another crawling with the grandmother holding her hand under her chin so that she didn´t gulp lots of water.  i walked a bit, sat on a rock for a bit, then walked again.  i saw one little boy with his sister, and he had found a flat rock and was skipping it over the water.  he was very good at it, but i noticed that his sister wanted to play with him but he wasn´t interested.  he just kept skipping the rock  then retrieving it, over and over, while she milled about in the water.  i thought, maybe i could find some pretty shell for her or something, and started looking down as i walked.  i quickly realized there were no shells on the beach, but suddenly i saw something sparkle as the water receded...it was bright green.  i bent down, and recognized exactly what it was.  sea glass.  it was a piece of glass that had fallen into the sea and was now dulled on the edges, but still had the bright green color.  sea glass has a special place in my heart because it reminds me of all the walks i took on the beach with my husband when we lived closer to santa monica.  we would walk and collect pieces of sea glass while our beautiful dogs cinda and brody froliced in the water, and chased each other over the sand.  in fact, we were collecting pieces of sea glass one morning when we stopped to sit on a large pice of driftwood that had floated up and was left high on the sand.  we talked for a while, then he started talking about how great his life had been since we met, and handed me a mussell shell full of sea glass and said to me, i have something for you.  i looked at it and realized there was something else in amongst all the sea glass- my engagement ring. 

so sea glass has a special meaning for me, and as soon as i saw that first piece, i saw that i t was everywhere!  i collected it for a while, and then took my handfull over to the side and sspread it out.  there was another little girl who came over to play and we made pretend necklaces out of it.  after she was called home, i realized a lot of time had passed just playing on the beach!  i looked up and there was martha who looked at me at the same moment.   she invited me to come along with her to the lighthouse to see the sunset.  i met martha in santiago, but i had heard a lot about her.  she was another pilgrim, and a favorite of everyone´s becasue she is jsut so nice.  we walked up to the lighthouse and watched the sunset.  it really is amazing to see the sun disappear into a bright red puddle at the end of sight, then disappear completely. 

we sat for a while longer, and jsut as we were thinking about leaving, i heard a familiar voice speaking in italian behind me.  i thought, can it really be, and i turned around-there was giuseppe!!!  we threw our arms around each other and caught each other up on where we had been. he had walked all the way to finisterre, so he had arrived yesterday, too.  i said goodbye to martha and met his friends.  he was with 3 italian women (leave it to giuseppe!) and they included me in the tradition of burning something at finisterre.  they had brought things-one a pair of sweats, one gloves, one a shirt, but i hadn´t brought anything.  i thought quickly, and realized there was something i could burn-i don´t think i will need all those little rolled up pieces of toilet paper that pilgrims must always carry, so i burned those!  afterwards, we drank wine, and walked home, now in the dark.  giuseppe was kind enough to walk me to my albuerge before going to his hotel.  he left early this morning, so i feel very lucky to have seen him on his only night in finisterre. 

i got home around midnight and slept til about 8 or 9-again, very unpilgrim-like behavior!  after meditating, i wondered what i would do today as i left my room on the top floor of the building where the albuerge is.  the woman had shown me the other 2 rooms, and i chose the nicest one-i have my own bathroom, but really all the rooms were nice.  i heard some other people, but sometimes i feel shy so i didn´t know if i would walk over to the kitchen before leaving just to meet them.  as i locked my door, i glanced over at the shared bathroom, and i had a feeling unlike anything i have ever felt before.  i felt both amazed, and as if what (who) i was seeing was the most normal person to see in that moment.  it was kim!  and i knew that where kim was, jenny would not be far away.  i jsut stood there for a moment, until i guess kim felt my gaze, and looked my way.  we just looked in each other´s eyes for a moment before erupting in squeels of joy, and hugging each other over and over.  jenny heard the commotion and came over and our hug got even bigger.   of all the dozens and dozens of albuerges, hostels, hotels and private rooms in this town, we had ended up on the same floor in adjoining rooms, sharing a kitchen.  so you can imagine that this morning turned into a party, and the two french guys that were friends of theirs, and slept in the third room joined us and we had a crepe party! 

i realized that when i wrote about who it was that i really missed of my camino community, it was only kim and jenny that i was still missing.  i had not seen them in weeks.  now we will be spending our last days here together, just as we spent our first days together. 
my camino is now complete, and yet i know that it will always continue to unfold.
peace and blessings to you all-
a