Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Aug/Sept 2017 Aspire Mag Full Issue | Page 68

LESSONS LEARNED ON The Way to Santiago I BY DEBORAH KEVIN was ten hours and 20 miles into the first day on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela with four and a half miles farther to go until reaching the B&B. I’d waited years to begin this journey and planned to trek for five days with a small group of like-minded women, only one of whom I’d met once and barely knew. I teetered across a balance beam of hard-packed earth, waist-high fronds on my left and a gully of mud to my right. My foot slipped. Ankle twisted. Ping. A shockwave ran up my left leg. I paused. Sucked air deep into my lungs. Not my knee! No! But I said nothing, pushing through the pain that grew with each footstep. I fell behind the others as we plodded toward Montcuq. 68 www.AspireMAG.net | August / September 2017