"Siri, play John Mayer..." This is a go-to phrase when I feel overwhelmed by the shuffle-god's choice of music. I immediately want it to stop in favor of something familiar and safe. Today after I asked for my old friend to serenade me I heard these lyrics: "No, I'm not color blind I know the world is black and white I try to keep an open mind But I just can't sleep on this, tonight Stop this train I want to get off and go home again I can't take the speed it's moving in I know I can't But, honestly, won't someone stop this train?" What an appropriate reprise for my mood today. I've seen many, many 2020 memes. Most of them make me laugh. A Facebook friend posted yesterday on his wall "I forget - which plague is next?" We try to make light of an absolutely life-sucking year. It's an old defense mechanism with which I'm well-familiar. But occasionally something happens that isn't laughable. A friend from the Ca
I read this statement somewhere earlier this month and it hit me profoundly. Maybe because I have had a tendency for much of my life to want to rush time. That is until about ten years ago, when the whirlwind of my kid's growing-up seemed to be going at breakneck speed and I realized my years with them at home were limited. But this year, it seems even more poignant. You see, I have a new appreciation for living in the moment, post-Camino. Probably the most valuable skill I learned while out there pounding the path, one kilometer at a time, was enjoying the moment I was in. On the Camino, there was no point looking too far ahead. In fact, it was detrimental to my mental and emotional health to think beyond "How far am I going today?" And sometimes it was limited even more, to "You only have to get to the top of that hill..." or "Just to the next village." So now, upon my return (I just had my six month anniversary of my arrival home),