The way to The Way

Hailey: Back in January 2015, my dad asked me to walk part of the Camino with him. I was speechless. Me? and You? Are you sure you want to walk with me? My dad's response was typically practical: "Well I want to walk the first part of the Camino that I didn't get to walk yet.  And you'll be finished your master's and I figure the timing will be perfect!" I was still speechless. "But it's me. Are you sure you want to go with me?" Dad's response was matter-of-fact: "Sure! I mean you can be pretty fiery, so I'm a bit nervous, but sure, why not?" So I said "YES! Let's do this!"  Then came the reality of my final semester of school which consumed all of me from January to June.  Then, while still writing my final research paper, I packed up all of my belongings in Montreal, travelled back to London (Ontario) where I immediately started teaching for the summer and applying for jobs that were miraculously cropping up.  I spent a good chunk of the summer waiting to hear about a particular art therapy job that would start right around the time we had planned on walking the Camino, and require me to move across the country. My dad would ask me on a daily basis: "Did you get it? Are we going to Spain?" and I'd be like "I haven't heard anything yet, just wait."  Well, as you can probably guess, I did NOT get the job (although they said I ALMOST did), and so...... WE'RE GOING TO SPAIN!!

Bruce: I am really excited about going on the Camino again, and particularly doing it with Hailey! She is such a pro-active, take charge sort of person. This is going to be a very different trip than the last 300 km I did on the Camino last year. We are starting at the beginning and doing the first 500 km together, then Hail will do the last 300 km on her own while I fly home. It's totally safe for a woman to be on the Camino alone and Hail is an experienced traveller. She has already arranged an AIRB&B in Barcelona for us! I can't wait to see this great city and meet our host there: Ricardo Rubens.

My own take on Hailey not getting the job: God has something much better in store for her: the Camino! We are both studying Spanish and getting ready and we can maybe practice our Spanish on each other - or maybe it will be Spanglish, our own new language  :-)