
He sat on the bank in a shady spot. His mind was full of random thoughts coming into his mind at what seemed to him like the speed of sound. He pushed them out one at a time. First the concerns about the mystery of this murder; then the regret of his failed relationships; then they disastrous date with Angela; then, finally, Kathy. One at a time he moved the thoughts out of his conscious mind until there was nothing left but the warm air moving gently over him, the decomposed granite of the dry creek beneath his feet, and the grassy bank he sat on. He moved his mind towards the center of his being. Finally, there was silence inside his head. He sat, not aware of the passage of time, his mind empty, open.
I wrote this paragraph in Enchanted Rock Red in 2011. This was somewhat prescient, as this was something I thought I just learned on the Camino in Spain in May.
Hey Robert! Jane here! How’s it going? Are you back in Fredericksburg? How’s the expansion of your sweet AirB&B coming along? Please say hi to all your buddies i met while i stayed there back in April – i’m still planning to walk El Camino when i finish Peace Corps in Aug 2019😊 loved your few blog entries i did get to download
My internet connection is at times funky here in Zambia so not sure if i get all your blog updates – i’m still showing up as a follower, right? I met another Peace Corps volunteer from Texas who also loves hiking at Enchanted Rock!
Adjusting to life here in a bush village! Incredibly interesting – gathering info on possible projects to collaborate on , meeting headmen, clinic and school staff- it crosses my mind whether or not i can actually do this for the whole 2 years but i’m trying to take it a day at a time and use our super supportive network of fellow volunteers to attend to my mental health and stay positive and realistic and centered – remind myself of my reasons for having wanted to do this, and the bigger picture (specially when i see one more enormous spider on the wall of my mud brick hut or think of going dancing back home or miss my grandkids and family and friends…
Be well, and stay in touch!
Love and peace
Jane
Jane, I came across your card this week and thought about writing you a note to see how you were doing! The new B&B room is two weeks from completion. I didn’t put it on my blog but I met a woman from Austin, Kay, on the Camino and we have been a couple ever since we got back. We plan to go to Portugal in May to walk north to Santiago from Lisbon. All in all, things are going well for me. I can’t really imagine what your life in Zambia is like. The non-Zambian people YOU meet are bound to be a very small subset of the rest of the world, in the same way the people I met on the Camino. The world is a much bigger and more diverse place than most Americans realize. How has being with the Peace Corps changed you so far?