Well I am at least in France. It is 4:00 in the afternoon and i am in Paris. What a lesson in patience my journey has been so far! Also a lesson in humility as I was reduced to tears after two hours of sleep. Between my own foolish mistakes in booking and a few mistakes of others thrown in for good measure I'm pretty sure the lady who asked for my seat on the leg of the flight from Portland to JFK, so her husband could sit by her wasn't quite sure how my saying yes was a cause for tears. I think the camino doesn't care about plans, how well i think I've mapped out the day. When I arrived here without luggage, it truly seemed that maybe I wasn't supposed to make this trip, too many roadblocks! But after checking into a hotel room, taking a couple of hour nap and the promise of a nice shower, it all doesn't seem so bad. I am looking forward to putting on my boots and starting to walk tomorrow! I fly into Biarritz early tomorrow, Saturday, morning, make my way to St Jean, pick up my pilgrims passport and make the earthen path underfoot my travelingling mode. Life doesn't often follow our plans. I've known that fact for many decades. Making this journey alone is not what I had planned. I very much wanted to share it with Steve. My heart is being stretched, over my friends who are widows and widowers much sooner than they expected. I cannot truly know the grief you endure but my prayers were often for you this day. From frustrating hotel misbookings to standing in long customs lines that did not move I was so aware that traveling alone is tough. I am strengthened to see God's grace working in you. Giving you the courage to continue on. Today, or was it yesterday......anyway it dawned on me how many antidotes there are if we look. The poor little boy traveling with his frazzeled mom who could only muster enough patience in security to roughly pull off his shoes and jacket that he so desparetly didnt want to part with, and couldn't understand why he was being asked to. I wanted to hold and comfort them both. Then sitting on the plane with a father and his young son and witnessing such patience during a long 6 hour flight, yes again tearying up at such a tender display of love I remember hearing how the antidotes for so many poisonous things exist in close contact to the thing itself. Like the remedy for poison oak grows in close proximity to the itchy weed itself. May we all try to be the antidote for the hard hurtful things in this world. The kindness next to the hurtful, the upright next to the deceitful, the faithful next to the doubting. I love you all and have carried you all especially close during the rough start of this journey. Thank you for your prayers. Be assured of mine for you. Buen camino. P.s. I am unable to see all that i type and going back and correcting spelling errors is laborsome, ive been directed to a french version of this blogspot so spellcheck is not a ready antidote, hopefully it is enough in place for you to read and understand