Hanging On

Since arriving in Uluwatu I have had the privilege of meeting a couple of very nice ladies: Taryn from California, and Mette from Denmark. It is funny how fate brings people together. Although the three of us are from different countries, are different ages, and have very different backgrounds, in many ways, the three of us find ourselves in a similar place in life as we each seek to be our best selves and strive to live a life with purpose.

Last night we walked to the end of the street where people go to the edge of the cliff to watch the sun set. We arrived there early, beer in hand, and enjoyed the view while chatting.

It was very windy, and it would still be a while before the sun sunk behind the horizon, so we squatted on the ground and chatted.

The wind blew and blew and before long we were being sandblasted as the dirt was whipped up by the wind and tossed in our faces. We could barely open our eyes. But still we sat, waiting for the sun to set. Miserable, skin stinging, hair in knots.

All afternoon the three of us had been chatting and so we were not at all surprised to find out we had many things in common. As we sat chatting, dirt in our mouths, we talked about our shared desire to walk the Camino. I told a story about a post I had recently read, posted by a woman walking the Camino. She mentioned how she had insisted on carrying her pack, despite ongoing pain, because somehow, she felt she wasn’t a good pilgrim if she sent it ahead by taxi. She was unrelenting in holding on to her vision of what walking the Camino meant. Eventually, she gave up, sent the bag ahead, and realized that the lesson she needed to learn was how to let go of things. Like her vision of the perfect pilgrim, she realized she was hanging on to so much in her life.

At that point in the story Taryn piped up and said, “You mean she hung on like we are hanging on to watch the perfect sunset?” At that point the three of us burst into peals of laughter because here we had sat for over an hour on the hard ground, bugs biting our butts, the hurricane force winds sandblasting our faces – all because we needed to see the sunset in this most perfect of places! Except it wasn’t perfect at all – it was miserable!

So, we got up, still laughing, and headed home with only minutes to sunset, leaving behind our expectations and a pinkening sky, relishing in new friendship and the healing power of a good chuckle.