Sometimes, as a neurodivergent person, I can become fixated on a thing (some may say obsessed with, and I’d be okay with that because, well, it’s accurate). Right now, my fixation is the Camino de Santiago and the sacred journey it provides those who choose to hike it. Like Sean Dietrich, a writer I follow on Facebook and who just completed the Camino with his wife, Jamie. Every day of his journey I have jumped on Facebook to search for his most-recent post. Including today. In part, part of me wants to pack up and head to the Camino and make my own pilgrimage. And part of me understands that life, itself, is a pilgrimage. If we are willing to listen to the voices.
What are those voices? you might be asking. Here’s what Sean had to say about them in today’s post on his Facebook page: Also, don’t ignore that little voice in your soul. It has AMAZING things to say. And it’s always talking. The voice is telling you to spend more time playing; less time working. More time praying, less time worrying. More time being silly; less time being a grown-up. “Have fun with your life,” the voice keeps saying, “while you still can.”
In my life, I have that voice in my soul, but I also have the voices of my teenagers, who remind me regularly of these same truths. And that is why I consider life to be a pilgrimage on par with the Camino. There is a certain sacredness in parenting and in daily life, but not everyone understands that. Maybe because they are too burdened by their perceived weight of parenting and tending the home, seeing that as mundane and ordinary.
But is it? Or is that just how we perceive it?
In my life, I am grateful for the reminder of how extraordinary days can be that I witness in the ways my teenagers live out their days. I recognize in them the longings they have for connections, for friendship and community; but I also see in them a willingness to embrace life in all its possibility. That practice is something we tend to lose as we grow older and it is something a hike along sacred pilgrimages like the Camino tends to remind us of.
But for those of us who cannot head off for the Camino, I am grateful for the reminder that comes with the parenting journey shared with two sweet and remarkable young women. I watch them and marvel at their innate joy in small moments—a drive with the windows open on a sunny day, listening to a favorite vinyl record, reading a new story or a favorite story, singing with gusto when no one else is listening. Their way of embracing those seemingly small or even mundane moments inspire me to do likewise. They inspire me to take a moment and breathe in the beauty of the world around me, to sing along to a favorite song, to snuggle down with a favorite book or movie.
Because I have these two beautiful souls in my life, I want to be certain to model this idea as well. I want my girls to understand that despite life’s difficulties and challenges, it is also beautiful and extraordinary. It is filled with unexpected, unanticipated joys, but it also relies on our efforts to uncover the hidden gems of grace, mercy, delight, and adventure. I see that when one of our teenagers discovers a new book or comes across a new album or musician or when they create a new story or a new character. The act of creativity is itself part of the sacred journey we take, and watching my girls, seeing what they encounter or create, whispers possibilities to me. With those moments carefully cradled in my heart, I embark on my own version of pilgrimage in search of the sacred, in search of stories, in search of self.