Camino Frances Day 17: Completion, Reflection, and Honoring Love | Day 268 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Sep 26, 2023

Camino Frances. Day seventeen.

This is so emotional.

So much so I can not do it. Not for a short thing for social media. We completed. We completed the Camino, and I can not begin to explain how much happened, how important it was, how I mourn the change coming, and how I, at the same time, LOVE the process.

It is so complex.

Instead, I will babble on about the day and how it was, what we did. If I can.

I had a lovely morning office time in the sunrise, as we had decided to leave just in flow - I took out a blanket and my computer and sat on a wall to finish my writing while enjoying my coffee. The final day! Wuau.

The group arrived, my family got ready, and off we went for the final stretch: only ten kilometers, not much.

Some of this last part is truly beautiful. Some trees are covered in moss, some viewpoints and some stretches of planted systematic but silent forest are so beautiful it is hard to grasp. Some are basic, and others are weird. We made a lot of stops and felt we had enough time. Which we also had.

Arriving is chaotic, with too many people, even a tourist train. I think it is - at least for us - too overwhelming to take in the fact we did it in the chaos of the cathedral of Santiago. Cheryl and I went to have the certificates made, and most of us visited the relics in the Cathedral after that. Felt like a sheep, walking in line, but I also felt like the right thing to do.

The most important to me was to light a candle. A candle for love.

Not that love needs a candle.

It is THE candle.

So lighting a candle for love in the cathedral of Santiago after walking the Camino again was more a way for me to honor the fact love is what it is all about, and that I am part of it and it will always shine, no matter what.

The rest is history.

Really.

It is.

With love

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

Thank you for reading
I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our lives like this, and we get very happy when we get your feedback. So feel free to share a comment below 😋

See more images on Facebook

Previous Finding Peace on the Camino: Sunsets, Mangoes, and New Beginnings | Day 269 of my 2023 Journal

Next Camino Frances Day 16: Trusting the Process and Embracing the Journey | Day 267 of my 2023 Journal

Comments

Write a comment...

Unschooling and Parent consulting, conversations, blogposts, and podcasts on family life and learning

Hi, I'm Cecilie Conrad. I'm a trained psychologist, mother of four, radical unschooler and full-time traveller. I have lived with unschooling for over a decade and help other families find their own path – whether it is about homeschooling, unschooling, or the bigger question of how you want to live as a family.

I offer guidance, conversations and talks. I call my work grandmothering – not coaching in the traditional sense, but presence, professional insight and concrete help navigating motherhood and finding your way home to your own values.

Am I the right person to help you? You can book a free discovery call, and we'll talk and figure it out.

Unschooling & Parent Consultant

Grandmothering – not coaching. Read more here

Listen to my podcasts

I share my knowledge and curiosity about family life and learning in my two podcasts.

Listen here

Read my latest blogposts

Frida, the streets, the buildings | Day 342 of my 2023 Journal

The first step in Mexico City was to take it in the city. A good way to do it while not wasting time is to visit an art museum. Mexican art is like n…Read more

Have no Fear | Day 341 of my 2023 Journal

I am not afraid. I am insecure about how to find my way in this context, how to find solid information in most here-and-now contexts, and how to bala…Read more

Mexican Mind Mystery | Day 340 of my 2023 Journal

The story goes (the one I know) that the Huichol people, who make this sort of art, took the peyote juice to enter a state of transcendence in order …Read more

Gated Community how Exotic | Day 339 of my 2023 Journal

Everything can be an adventure, even this. For us Europeans, a REAL gated community with a guard, actually several guards, is seriously exotic. We ha…Read more

Volunteer work and a windowless Airbnb | Day 338 of my 2023 Journal

It is truly overwhelming how fast San Miguel de Allende is unfolding for us. One of the game-changing things is that there is not much ego energy. It…Read more

The trampoline park and more new friends | Day 337 of my 2023 Journal

It was a lovely morning after the game-changing party, convincing us we had finally found the place with the right vibe and the right people to stay …Read more

Roaring Twenties: A party to convince us we are home | Day 336 of my 2023 Journal

This was the final drop: We are now convinced San Miguel de Allende is the right place for us to have our winter breaks and find our new community an…Read more

So this is Christmas | Day 335 of my 2023 Journal

Walking the dogs in the morning was a true pleasure on December first. Hundreds of red flowers called Christmas roses in Danish lined the plaza in fr…Read more

We need art: Nourish the soul | Day 334 of my 2023 Journal

We can not live on tortillas alone. We need art. We need a lot of art. Something to choose from, something to browse through, something to contrast w…Read more