The early morning air of these summer days beckons me to adventure, adventure, adventure.
It whispers to me about early morning hikes over mountains and through the pines…
Or early city-smells on new roads, with fresh cheese and fruit bought from shops where sometimes they speak your language and, sometimes, they don’t.
And I’m thirsty for this.
My backpack calls to me from the top shelf of my closet, my passport from the broken wooden box I keep in a cupboard, my worn hiking boots from the dark recesses of closest floor (behind my professional shoes) dusted in soil from Spain and Colorado and all else.
Hey, do you want to come with?
Let’s spend a few dollars at a local grocery on fresh summer peaches, maybe some dolmas, and a bar of dark chocolate which will assuredly halfway melt by the time we finish it.
Let’s hike under this sun, walking trails or sidewalks–it doesn’t really matter, does it, as long as the sun is warm and the conversations real.
Let’s bike our cities, on streets we don’t usually drive, looking at the houses and waving at the dogs. When people call greetings to us, we can respond back, the blessed back-and-forth of community and conversation.
Maybe we can stop for ice cream. Or tacos.
Do you feel the adventure of these deep summer days amidst the sea-blue chicory and the stalks of drying grass?
And at night, when the shadows grow long, we can gather around mismatched chairs with cheap wine and summer-fresh produce. And then the stories start, around the flickering candles, as we swat an occasional mosquito or catch an occasional firefly. Stories about the day, the memories we made. Stories about other times together, maybe years back, other memories. We can talk, too, about stories that we hope to one day share.
This is Camino. This is adventure. This is life.
Do you want to go, then?
Why then…let’s go!