"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things"...

(The title of this post is a wink to my mother.)

I think todays post might be longer than most that follow, and that's due to 2 things: There's a lot to say, and I have an actual keyboard. Starting tomorrow, posts will be from the phone.

Today's the day. I retired yesterday, and I leave for Camino today (3/29/25). The general iternary for the next few days is:

•   Sat: Depart Dallas
•   Sun: Arrive in Paris, mass at Notre Dame
•   Mon: Train to Le Puy-en-Velay
•   Tue: Pilgrim's Mass, then start the Camino
•   Remaining 87 days: walk, walk, and more walking.
•   End of June: Come home, tired, more fit, closer to God.

Why are you doing this?

In my first post, I answered 3 of the top 4 questions about my Camino. Today, I'll give the current answer to "Why am I doing this?". Note that I fully expect this answer to change over the coming 12 weeks. 

There are 3 reasons I want to walk 1,000 miles across France and Spain:

1. Adventure.
2. Think about chapter 3 of my life.
3. Pilgrimage.

Adventure

I've had some wonderful adventures in my life. The chief one has been 37 years of marriage to my darling Mary. I've circumnavigated the lower 48 with Michael P. Driven the Amalfi coast, with Mary white knuckled in the passenger seat. Hiked Philmont twice and enjoyed 2 trips into the vast wilderness of the Quetico with my boys. And many others. I'm ready for another one! (A month in France with no French language skills should be an adventure. My apologies to Liz, an excellent teacher.)

Chapter 3

If youth was chapter 1, and adulthood/family/career was chapter 2, then I need to figure out what chapter 3 will look like. I have some general ideas of what I'd like to do in retirement. Maybe I can refine those ideas while I walk.

Pilgrimage

By far my most important reason to walk the Camino is to get closer to God. I always say that I am a very busy Catholic. All the things I do at my parish are important. But I am in control and not very attentive to the voice of God. My hope is that the pain, suffering, time away from everyone I hold dear, and even monotony of the days will allow me to pray deeper, hear God better, and feel His love rather than just thinking about His love. (The old tension between head and heart. In my case, the head always wins. Time to give the heart a fighting chance.)

God, grant me a humble and contrite heart.

That phrase has been a subject of much of my reflection lately. But boy do all of you reading this make it hard to be humble!!!

Actually, I've been blessed beyond measure by the love, friendship, and kindness of so many people. These last 2 weeks have been filled with some of the best moments of my life. The cards, gifts, advice, well wishes, blessings, and time spent with so many of you has simply been amazing.

I can't possibly say an adequate thank you to everyone in this short (short??) blog post. But I'll highlight just a few. I apologize in advance for those I fail to mention here. 

• My morning prayer group. The center of my spiritual life. All great guys and 1 lovely young lady. Thank you for your support, cards, and especially your prayers.
• 6:45am mass attendees and priests. Special thank you to Fr. Guadagnoli for his blessing at Mass on Thursday.
• Summer Moon Ministry. The best 30 minutes of every Mon, Wed, and Fri. I'll miss you a lot while I'm away. Thank you for Mike O's wise words and my pin that I'll proudly display on my pack.
• Stuart H. My boss of the past 15 years. We've had quite an adventure together growing SG. Wrote the best farewell post on LinkedIn that anyone could ever wish for. Why did you wait 15 years to show me your emotional and thoughtful side?
• Nancy A. I have a bunch of Jr. High students in her theology class praying for me while I'm gone. So cool!
• Everyone at my Buen Camino party. Especially thankful for Deacon Tony's blessing.
• And a few individuals, with limited commentary:
• Michael P. My longest friendship. Dear to me since 7th grade.
• Michael O. Best friend and co-founder of our Summer Moon Ministry.
• Chris A. Hero in my life.
• Craig A. Smartest and wittiest guy in any group. And the best evangelest I know. 
• Paul T. Voice of God or the thorn in my side. Very much both, and I'm all the better for it.
• Yuri O. What a blessing! I miss you already.
• Greg G. My Camino mentor.
• Andy, Austin, Kristin, Haddy, Mom,... My family has been so supportive and loving as I've planned this trip.
• Marylee! My grand daughter extraordinaire. If you know me, you know all about my Marylee and the very special place she has in my heart. She often says "I'll cry when you go on your trip." I tell her I will too. Then we'll FaceTime and be all better.

That's your thing. 

Final words of this goodbye post have to go my sweetie pie, Mary. She is amazing. I originally thought she might join me for a portion of the Camino. But sharing a bunk bed in a room of 12-60 snoring men and women just didn't appeal to her. Go figure.

She says that's my thing. Go do it.

She supports me so much. And I love her more than anyone else on earth!

Buen Camino. 

See you all in 90 days.