So weirder things have happened in the world, but not to me. Not to date. I’m starting a storyline that I just feel has to be shared, because sometimes dreams come true. Or maybe things that feel like dreams one day and not the next. Maybe life is a series of things we ask for both consciously and unconsciously. And I have asked for this for a long time. For years and years. I have waited for things to line up. And when I least expected it, it happened.  

I’ve written about Zoom. He has his reasons for caring very little about certain things, a lot of things, and really blowing doors on his potential at being a world-class “teenager”. And he does the very least to get by most of the time. He tries other times. But his go-to is to do the least and hope for the most. That’s not usually what life rewards that mentality with. And so goes.  

It’s what parents feel like every day as we see our children blaze their own paths. And I have chosen to embrace him and his journey and the things he chooses (see my last blog post, Beyond Acceptance is Love). I have chosen to love him as he is and encourage him and guide him and incentivize him to be more. And support that he will have to make his own choices, even if I don’t understand them.  

And the other day I asked him if he’d mind if I went on an international trip in April. A friend was thinking of going. So I was checking to see if that was a good time to go for my kids, in separate conversations ….  

His response…, “Well, can I go?”  

And I obviously thought I heard him wrong. Because I have asked every single time I have left the country, if he and/or his brother would like to join me in an adventure. I mean, they’re roughing it adventures, but still… I have wanted to share my sense of wonder with them. They are wholeheartedly against it, each and every time. I would say it’s been around 8 times thus far.  

This felt like the year to “maybe” get back into the game. I needed an adventure, a reward for an awesome year in my business and life and investments. I needed a great reward to inspire and challenge me.  

It’s very possible the next words from my mouth were, “Well, I’m not sure I was inviting you!” And I meant it in the sweetest way! But I wasn’t! And I was so shocked! And I parented roughly… and then got my footing…. 

“I just wasn’t expecting that. But I would be happy to go with you. Are you serious?” 

So, I could go into teenie, tiny details, but the spirit of the story might be lost in my stirring of words in the pot I am cooking. Bottom line is my son and I are going together on a trip to do the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the Frances Way, this April. (with a tour group obviously) 

A few forced hands of fate, being a 25% off sale, which made the trip more desirable, a deadline that made me decide more quickly than I intended, and a friend deciding not to go for her own reasons.  

There are a lot of things that have to be done before we go, like him breaking in trail shoes, getting his renewed passport back, buying plane tickets and most importantly, purchasing blister tape and rain jackets.  My bedroom floor resembles a small corner of the Army Surplus store with this and that item, ready to be used or returned quickly.

But this feels like the greatest trip of my entire life. And that’s saying a lot. I have seen many “Wonders of the World”. I have touched most continents. I have traveled and perused homes in the farmlands of nowhere, without a word I can understand. I have climbed high peaks, gotten sick, seen what felt like heaven, but I did it on my own. I went each year on my own. And it was the greatest gift to myself. But in my hasty wish to go with someone else, my partner became my onery teen. And I can’t wait to share the story of my own dreams come true. 

I can’t wait to share the joy of seeing my son see the world in a different light. I can’t wait to live the next two months with all the stress, the joy, the scurry, the quiet.  

We will be doing a 6 day, 100KM pilgrimage, ending in Santiago de Compostela, Spain at St. James Church, on Easter Sunday, in a year that has been deemed Holy by the Pope. Even as a non-religious soul, this bids nothing less than pure amazement from my sense of awe. We didn’t plan to go on a trip this year. We didn’t plan to go on a pilgrimage. We didn’t plan to be there on Easter. We didn’t know it was a Holy Year! We didn’t know a lot of things. And those are my favorite plans, decisions made without all the details, plans that leave us in wonder of the good and bad that goes along with letting go of any control and letting life unfold in its wonder!  

Plan something today that leaves you open to the wildest possibilities of disappointment and uncertainty, the wildest challenges and fears. Plan something with limitless wonder and joy.  

With Love, 

CC