Joop

This is all about Joop. I suppose it would be better placed under Mi Vieje, but that was last year and this is now.

Joop has been my friend for 369 days. I met him in an outdoor cafe in St. Jean Pied de Port, France, on September 2nd, 2007. The day before we started the Camino. My poles had been misplaced by the airline and I was a couple days late starting my Camino.

We never walked together as he was a slow uphiller and a lightening fast downhiller and I was the opposite. But we managed, for several nights to end up at the same albergue or in the same city.

The only remaining seat in the only restaurant in Roncevalles was next to him. In Pamplona we dined with Harald and Anika. I could not find him in Los Arcos and found him in a tiny bar in Viana. I have not yet seen him again. I will. I'm sure of it.

But since we have exchanged emails, and phone calls and letters. His pronounciation of my full name is lyrical. His involvement in my life is inexplicable, undeniable and very unique. I have not yet come to understand I came to be on the Camino, nor is it clear to me how we all came be intertwined. Add to that how so many of us are still linked at the hip in an emotional bond of our journey that is incomprehensible to our friends and loved ones.

Folks - it is a mystery to all of us too!