All the work responsibility and loose ends are taken care of as we pack our backpacks for the final time.  I have had a chance to mediate for over an hour the last two days and I feel this overwhelming sense of gratitude toward so many people and the divine.

Usually I take vacation and never think twice about it, but this is the first time in my career that I have taken a two-month vacation.  I have had to structure and organize the teams so that they can operate effectively and successfully without my interference for next two months.  Everyone at work has been so supportive and  gone out of their way to make me feel comfortable about the time off.  I am so grateful to all my co-workers and teams for allowing me this luxury to go on this dream pilgrimage.

I am so grateful to the universe for conspiring to make it possible for me to experience this upcoming journey. I feel so blessed with a wonderful family, great friends, great relatives, wonderful co-workers, a great job and an absolutely wonderful life.  I am not sure I can wish for anything more and am in an state of awe and wonder at how life can be so beautiful and simple if we choose to embrace things as they are presented to us without judgement and bias.

I have been wondering if everything I have done in my life up until now has been leading up to this adventure. But no, that cant’ be – I doubt there is anything in life (at least not in mine) that can have prepared me for what I am about to undertake – a 12 to 20 mile per day walk for a total of more than 500 miles over 45 days – with no material possessions except what can fit in a small backpack (hopefully no more than 12 lbs). I cannot recall anything that I have done that can have prepared me for this – not even in the past year and a half that I have had the Fitbit to keep track of my steps – I think there was only one single day (in Japan) where I even managed to walk 12 miles. I cannot even imagine walking this distance for so many consecutive days.

Not sure what I am thinking but there is no backing out now. the airline tickets are confirmed and today I even bought some pants and shirts that supposedly will make my walk comfortable- that is, if there is anything that can make walking such distances comfortable – let alone pleasurable – but we will see once we are on the Camino. I am sure there will be surprises, pleasant as well as unpleasant but in undertaking this, we have all agreed to complete surrender to whatever will be – there is really no other way to undertake a journey like this. There is consolation of course – in the bus rides that might be available and tempting – wonder if that will feel like cheating and take away from the glorious feeling of achievement that hopefully will come with completion of this journey.

I remember as a kid when my dad used to make us walk the 10~ miles to Patanga beach in Chittagong and we would be so worn out and unable to take another step and he would say, ‘oh it’s right there – we are almost there. I can even see the ocean’ and we would trudge along – what other choice was there. Years later, this training would help me complete the marathon and I am hopeful will keep me going on the Camino.

I started to read Enayet’s write-up about the camino and he talks about the 3 sections – first with the body, then the mind and then the soul. I think it is funny that my title of this post also refers to the same – I started out thinking this was a challenge for my body, then realized my mind had to be the driver if I was going to make it; but as we get closer, I think ultimately, it will be my soul that benefits – at least that is what I can hope and pray for, the rest will be up to God’s Grace. Since this past weekend, I do already feel detached from my worldly possessions – maybe I am ready for the Camino?