Is it possible that I have only a smidge more than a week before I will be off to Spain?  My return late last week from a road trip to Vermont left me exhausted, relieved to be home with so little time until my big departure, and scrambling to remember everything I have to do before I go.  And I cannot find my favorite hat . . . I’ve lost it once and found it, but now it’s hiding again.  If I buy another one exactly like it, the original will jump out of some corner or another and with its thumbs in its ears will shout, “Na na na na NA na!”  Please, favorite hat, please come back to the table so I can take you with me.  And cross “finding hat” off my list.

And taxes . . . ah, now there is a challenge.  I think I’d rather walk from Colorado to Spain than gather my tax information each year.  Why don’t I do this a month at a time instead of having to tax (no pun intended) my brain trying to make sure I have all the expenses from the year 2012 at my fingertips?  I can never come up with a proper answer, but suffice it to say that by Wednesday afternoon, that task will be crossed off my list.

Though my plane ticket was one-way, I now have a return . . . from Lisbon.  I hope I will have enough energy to explore some of Portugal as planned.  At least I know I won’t have to swim home.

Saturday was tax-prep-avoidance day.  With my daughter and another near-family member visiting from other parts of Colorado, I wandered up and down, to and from the basement where the pool table awaited with the piles of clothing and supplies I will, might, won’t take with me.  Sorting through again, the “don’t take” pile is getting larger, leaving me with some hope that I can fit the “must take” items into my backpack and still be able to pick it up.

One excellent suggestion from a friend will allow me to leave my Kindle at home.  I have several Camino resources on the Kindle and thought I needed it, but dear M.A. suggested that since I’m going to be writing on my MacBook Air, I might think about downloading a Kindle app to the Air, thus eliminating the need for the Kindle at all.  I tried it, and WAZAA!  Works like a charm.  Downloading my e-books to the app was so simple, and I have just eliminated perhaps a pound of weight from the stack.

The supplies that will diminish as I move along the Camino are my daily pills and foot pads.  What will not diminish is my commitment to what is ahead of me.  This weekend, my daughter cautiously commented, “You’re not going to push yourself too hard each day, are you?  You will stop when you are tired, yes?”  Yes, beloved daughter, I will stop when I’m tired.  Perhaps soak my feet in a stream, take a small nap, put my socks and shoes on again, and walk just a bit more.

And each day will be each day, one after the other.  I await the unfolding surprises with patience and slow breath.  Perhaps September and October will be the most peaceful months of my life.

Nine days . . .                                                                                nine days . . .                                                                              nine days . . .