Unfinished Business

We’ve had a fair bit going on lately on the farm. So much so that I haven’t even been blogging. But now we have hit a wall with some of our plans and it’s time to take a step back and take a deep cleansing breath.

The food truck is ordered and our loan is approved. The bank manager handed us umbrellas after we signed and told us how happy he was that we are now banking there. Jeff found it an ironic metaphor. ‘I guess they got us covered. Even on on stormy days.’ The architectural plans have passed the College of Architecture (I had never heard of this before) and are submitted to the Concello and Patrimonio for the preservation of the Camino De Santiago. But that’s just for the buildings. We can move forward with the electrical rewiring and the fixing of the water and plumbing. And the laundry room rework as that is ‘reforming an existing building’. But there’s a catch.

With the pandemic came global supply chain problems. And now there are further interruptions in Spain with a haulers strike. Yesterday we drove into Lugo and the truck drivers were blocking roads with both their trucks and their bodies. A traffic nightmare. And what does this mean for me? Iron isn’t getting to my food truck guy in Barcelona. So we will be delayed by weeks in picking it up. Our reworked septic system isn’t coming any time soon, either. We are at a standstill.

So, as I usually do, I looked at my ever evolving life list and said ‘Hmmm. What’s on here that I could do while I’m waiting? What unfinished business, that has been nagging at me, can I mop up?’

Most of you likely remember that I started a new Camino back in early September. I made it from St Jean to Pamplona on a torn meniscus. Then got over Alto de Perdon before realizing I was in real trouble and sought medical help. It took some time to heal but its all good now. And I have a couple of knee braces that do the trick.

I don’t enjoy starting something and not finishing it. Especially a project, and walking a Camino is like a project. I started the execution phase and had to abandon it. For awhile. I still had that passport with the first few stamps. I would see it periodically in my office – mocking me. Almost as if to say ‘I’m not going anywhere. You’ll have to finish me sometime.’

Jeff is fully supportive of me going. In fact, he prompted me. ‘When are you ever going to be able to finish, if not now. We are blocked for at least a month. You’ll be working in the business during walking season. Unless you do the Via de la Plata from Seville in winter. But I know it will bother you if you don’t finish this one.’

So I pulled my pack out of the barn on Saturday and packed it. And am now I am on a train to Pamplona. Tomorrow I will head to Uterga and walk the 7 km to Puenta la Reina. Nice and easy. As Jeff says ‘Go slow to go fast.’ I will take the first few days slow. Much slower and less kilometers until I am very sure I can increase the distance. I’ll listen to my body.

These first few days are supposed to be a drencher. Rain and more rain by the buckets. A test of patience and perseverance, for sure But that’s the theme of my life these days. I think I’m up for it. And grateful for the opportunity to mop up a little unfinished business.