CAMINO STAGE 17- Llanes to Ribadesella. Camino Del Norte Route of El Camino De Santiago. 20 miles, Day 18, 19 days to go

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“The depth of life is found in the breadth of living.” Richie Norton

On a visit to the Uffizi museum in Florence, Italy, I went to find a painting entitled Judith Slaying Holofernes, done by a woman named Artemisia Gentileschi. In the early 1600s, in Rome, Italy, few women had the opportunity to pursue artistic training, but Artemisia’s father, Orazio Gentileschi, already a renowned artist, saw his daughter’s aptitude in painting and taught and encouraged her to expand the breadth of her talents. By fifteen Artemisia was already selling her work. She painted strong, capable women, like Judith, in the apocryphal Old Testament, who had the courage to do difficult things. In Artemisia’s broad inspired brushstrokes, I could see the depth and breadth of her resilience after being attacked by her father’s apprentice. Despite injury, Artemisia continued to paint and became the first woman to be accepted into the prestigious Accademia delle Arti del Disegno which allowed her to purchase artistic supplies without the permission of her father or future husband and to sign her own contracts.

“Length without breadth is like a self-contained tributary having no outward flow to the ocean. Stagnant, still and stale, it lacks both life and freshness. In order to live creatively and meaningfully, our self-concern must be wedded to other concerns.” MLK Jr

Continuing the Camino through the more rugged Asturian coast along mountains, down to beaches, we found new life breathed into us even with residual and new injuries. It has been a point of admiration for me to note the breadth of endurance in the human body. When one area of the body is injured and exhausted, other parts kick in and are utilized in order to carry on. And even in pain, the body generously allows less focus on self and more concern for each other and those around us. Each day unfolds with an opportunity to live more gratefully and purposefully even though it’s fraught with finding creative ways to keep chunks of toes from falling off. Humor, the antidote to all despair, has expanded the breadth of our perceived capacity to endure.

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Fascinating wooden Hórreo on rock stilts that have held grain since the 3rd century grabbed my attention on today’s walk. These granary were raised to keep rodents out and damp soggy soil from seeping in and destroying the crop inside. I could see the parallels to us as pilgrims keeping our socks dry to prevent new blisters from forming and finding the absurd and silly to keep despondency from seeping in. Suspending moral to stay high in the rain and pain was our Hórreo, and the way to preserve us on our journey.

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Arriving in Ribadesella, I noticed a little church perched above the city. The map revealed it to be a hermitage resting on a hilltop called the Mirador de la Grúa. After dumping our backpacks at our lodgings, and doing laundry, I tightened my shoelaces and started up the Mirador. A mirador is an extensive outlook, and these belvederes with extended views have a magnetic draw for me. Making it to the summit, I found old cannons from yesteryears, a lighthouse glistening on a distant rise, and our hotel winking from far below. Ribadesella sprawled out in its beauty before me.

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Gradually my shoulders relaxed and loosened and my mind wandered and my own personal outlook spread like a mirador before me. New eyes viewed the breadth of the 500 miles we had undertaken to complete—it was not only a challenge to the body, but also a vehicle to expand the breadth of our spirits, and to appreciate the resilient combined strength of each other. Like Artemisia, who dug deep and kept painting after challenges, I could draw on my reserves and keep walking, as deep within I knew I had the bandwidth to endure.

“There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.” Martin Luther King Jr

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By pushing past what is thought possible, there lies our true depths waiting for us. Remaining stagnant and still is not living, so tomorrow again we choose to flow like a river to the ocean and be refreshed and broadened by the Camino.

“We all have a destiny in accordance with the breadth of our shoulders.” Placido Domingo

CAMINO STAGE 16: Colombres to Llanes Camino Del Norte Route of El Camino De Santiago. 18 miles, Day 17, 20 days to go

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I inherited debilitating migraines, and the lovely clusters have a track record of ganging up on me, and throwing off my equilibrium when I need stability. Rain and the barometer falling are known to stir these up, but I have been blessed during the tumultuous storms of coastal northern Spain, that blow in almost every evening, for my migraines to stay below the surface. On the edge of a very windy cliff today, I thanked heaven above for my balance and equilibrium.

“For Equilibrium, a Blessing:
Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul. As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity by lightened by grace.” John O’Donahue

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Today has been my favorite Camino day yet. Each stage has been very beautiful (San Sebastian in the Basque lands, and the Zarautz beach climb to Deba a highlight), but the rugged mountains and coastline of Austria has captivated me. The wind was whistling through the limestone cracks and sounded like a cheerful flutist dancing and accompanying us on our climb. Bufones or blowholes with surging ocean water spraying up in the air cooled and entertained us. Horses and donkeys nodded their heads as if in greeting. There were even caves to explore had we had the time. (Good excuse to come back). We met another American named Dwayne from Chicago who we walked with for a while who also started in Irún but we had never crossed paths. It all amounted to a day full of blessings and laughter rinsing our souls —a day worth remembering.

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“Walk your walk. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering.” Steve Maraboli

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“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” Eric Hoffer

Rain clouds threatened dark and menacing in the distance on our last three miles to Llanes, but we were blessed with just wind and a small spit of rain as we lumbered to the hermitage. We laughed because as soon as we pulled out rain jackets and struggled to put them on, the storm blew past and we walked unmolested the last two miles down the mountain in sunshine and smiles.

“Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” Charles Dickens

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We were rewarded coming into Llanes with stately Indiano architecture, a man riding by on a bike, waving and cheering us on with “Buen Camino!” Our hotel room overlooked the water and had a gorgeous green hill rising above it with steps up to the Paseo De San Pedro. The view at the top of the Paseo stretched miles with a stunning view of the whole of Llanes and Bay of Biscay extending to the Atlantic. Climbing the hill above our hotel, and bracing myself at the top against the unsteadying wind whipping me around, I smiled as internally for the first time I felt balanced and grounded in equilibrium on the Camino. Despite the loss of enjoyable walking companions and Steve still suffering with trashed feet, we have been the recipients of the blessings of joy and laughter and feeling lightened by gravity.

“When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.” C.S. Lewis

CAMINO STAGE 15 Comillas to Colombras Camino Del Norte Route of El Camino de Norte – 18 Miles, Day 16, 21 Days to go

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“Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” – Henry David Thoreau

Eighteen miles. In a car, on the freeway, for the most part, 18 miles is a few brief moments. On foot, walking across Spain, depending on the terrain, it’s five to six plus hours walking through farmer’s fields, past loose grazing bulls and cows, along railroad tracks, through little towns of five stone homes, over bridges, beside rivers and up and down mountainous terrains.

“Walking is a man’s best medicine.” – Hippocrates

I heard my mother often remark while growing up: “Walking is the easiest and most perfect activity to restore body and mind.” As a physical therapist, my mother always told her patients this when they were struggling and trying to recover from injuries. I have thought of this in the process of being thoroughly exhausted, while walking the last two weeks and thought “Walking is not that easy!” But today on our 16th day on the Camino, we are now seeing our stride strengthened and bodies and minds restored. In the beginning, it was all about blistered feet, fatigued shoulders and hips from a 20 lb. pack and aching legs. Now it’s less about popping blisters and aspirin and more about the scenery and people around us and what transpires in the rich recesses of the mind. In the quiet, with doves cooing, corn rustling and ones own breath huffing, there’s healing transpiring to the peatones or walkers on the Camino who didn’t know they were ailing.

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I walk. I prefer walking.” Jane Austen

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One of my favored authors, Jane Austen, loved to walk and hence her character’s walked when they needed to sort out emotions and needs. Anyone reading or watching Pride and Prejudice cannot forget the image of Mr Darcy striding across the field in a brisk walk heading to Miss Elizabeth Bennet as he unconsciously knows he needs her, and that she is the cure to his ailment. In our striding across the fields of Spain towards Santiago Del Compostela, to prove we have mettle, we too without forethought or intention have been unintentionally walking towards an unknown quest of wholeness of mind and body and we are finding it.

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Mile 17: at 3 pm, tired, hungry and sunburned, we stood at the base of a mountain with our daily destination and rest on the other side. As i took a deep breath and gathered my inner reserves, a line from Jane Austen’s book Persuasion came to my head: “never underestimate the power of a well-written letter,” but it came to me as: ‘never underestimate the power of a well-walked walk.’ Yellow flowers, dragonflies, butterflies and the smile of my very own Mr. Darcy made that steep ascent a well walked walk. Or a wellness walk—as our legs propelled us forward, and we reached our destination feeling restored.

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills

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“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

Camino Del Norte Route of El Camino de Santiago. Comillas, Spain- Day 14, 22 days to go.

After two weeks of walking the more difficult Northern route, we decided to have a “rest day” of only 7 miles after yesterday’s 18 miles, and to gear up for tomorrow’s 20 miles. It’s also my birthday, and it was a good excuse to stop and play tourist and eat chocolate mousse cake.

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Maybe even better than chocolate was visiting Antoni Gaudi’s “Capriche” villa. Gaudi, a Catalan modernismo architect and the genius behind the Sagrada Familia and Guell park, was commissioned to build “the Capriche” or the Whim for Maximo Diaz de Quijano in 1883. Gaudi felt everything in art and architecture was first inspired by nature.

“The great book, always open and which we should make an effort to read, is that of Nature.” Antonio Gaudi

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Next door to the Capriche was the Capilla-Panteon where Gaudi also placed his signature touch inside making furniture.

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Situated in the gardens of Sobrellano, this impressive Neo-Gothic building was the work of architect Joan Martorell finished in 1881. The tours were booked so we stayed in the gardens and admired the outside.

Afterward on the “Dia de Katarina” I walked the beach and thought about the role of nature in art and came to an understanding of why some art pieces move me just as nature stirs and restores me.

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“Nothing is art if it does not come from nature.” Antonio Gaudi

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Ended the day reading Birthday messages from family and friends and felt restored to tackle a big climb on the Camino tomorrow.

CAMINO STAGE 13: Santillana del Mar to Comillas, Camino Del Norte Route of El Camino De Santiago- 18 miles, 23 days to go

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“People are composed of many things..what moves me is the complexity of people – the chiaroscuro of dark and light. “ Kirk Douglas

The forecast was wrong— 100% chance of rain. Thankfully rain never materialized walking this stage of the Camino. Instead, we had lovely breezes and partly cloudy skies, making for a perfect trekking day. I was mindful of the grey skies, and the darkness and storms following us in the distance, contrasting against the pockets of light we’d encounter. The thought occurred to me that we had stepped into a Renaissance chiaroscuro painting with the contrasting light and dark.

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I was reminded of a time where I found myself happily alone in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Johannes Vermeer’s works, with various women, standing by a window in a dim room with light reflecting off her face, were always a big draw for me, especially the Milkmaid, Once a dairyman’a daughter, always a dairyman’s daughter, I appreciated Vermeer depiction of the heroic beauty of a woman at her daily work. He captured in the light and darkness, the magic, and not the drudgery, of repetitive chores.

The day before the Rijksmuseum visit, I had driven my little Fiat 500 to Delft to see Vermeer’s atelier and light center turned into the Vermeer Centrum Delft with replicas of his 37 known paintings. It was partly cloudy and threatening rain that day when I stepped into the 17th century world where the master of light lived, loved and worked.

I found his camera obscura where he played with colour, light and dark, hidden views and perspective fascinating. I thought while leaving the museum two hours later, standing under the museum eaves, waiting for the rain to stop, we all have to play around with our vision of who we are, noting our colors, our light and dark side, changing perspective, until the whole of us comes into focus.

“In each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice. We’re each of us our own chiaroscuro, our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid, something real. We’ve got to forgive ourselves that. Because there is a lot of grey to work with. No one can live in the light all the time. “Libby Bray

Today as we descended another mountain to the seashore, while I wasn’t standing by a window nor not quite dressed in lovely Vermeer lapis blue on the Camino, when I stood on the beach half way to Comillas, and the light peeked in and out of the clouds, this milkmaid of long ago, considered again the light and dark and the colors and complexities of all of us. I was accused of late by someone close to me of being imperfect. Instead of being hurt and defending myself, like I always do, I agreed with them as I am very aware of my imperfections. Watching the sun slide behind clouds again, I pondered the grey in us, the areas that overlap, where we aren’t light or dark, or everything others want or need us to be, or when we ourselves are not what we want or need ourselves to be…. And maybe the imperfect grey, the heroic part of us in the dark, that still reaches for light and finds the beauty and not drudgery in repetitive chores, working, and loving others, or in our case walking… maybe changing the perspective to see that the grey areas that reside and strive on in us, that is the masterpiece. And therein lies the magic.

“Our mind is the canvas on which the artists lay their colour; their pigments are our emotions; their chiaroscuro the light of joy, the shadow of sadness. The masterpiece is of ourselves, as we are of the masterpiece. “ — Okakura Kakuzo

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CAMINO STAGE 12: Santander to Santillana del Mar Camino del Norte Route of El Camino De Santiago. 8 miles, 26 days to go

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“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” Anais Nin

Walking with a friend makes the miles pass by quickly. Donna from England has become a dear friend, and it seems like we’ve known her forever. Finding out you have so much in common with someone, despite growing up in different countries, gives hope for getting along in ones own country.

“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Aristotle

We were informed there was a dangerous section of the Camino walking across a train trestle. Pilgrims were asked to take the train across this section to Requejada or be fined. Since the train was mandatory, we and several others boarded the train and enjoyed the mini break through a very industrial section of Santander.

Wealthy noblemen built villas and beautiful churches during Spain’s Golden Age, where literacy and art flourished. While walking through the countryside, we encountered several enchanting churches and buildings from this era that were still standing.

As we continued through the lovely environs, we talked art and literature and compared notes on where we were staying at each stage. Somehow we had booked 90% of the same places on our own. We will part paths after tomorrow’s stage but this leg was made brighter by Donna from England.

These incredible cobblestone roads greeted us as we arrived at Santillana del Mar as well as impressive inlaid coats of arm displayed on home’s stone facades. We had a great meal of shrimp and salmon in the gardens of one of the abandoned noblemen’s home turned restaurant La Huerta Del Indiano

“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”

Jane Austen, NorthHanger Abbey

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One of the joys of the Camino is getting closer to companions you brought with you and making new lifelong friends. After all, it is the people around us, on our shared journey through life, that see what is good in us, our own golden era, that stands through time.

One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood. Seneca

CAMINO STAGE 11: Guemes to Santander El Camino Del Norte Route of El Camino De Santiago 11 miles, 27 days left

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The dead fly in my morning cocoa and hair on my toast foreshadowed the day a bit. We had lots of friendly residents wishing us “Buen Camino” on the way to Guemes and leaving Guemes. But scampering over the cliffs covered with cornfields above Playa de Galizano and Playa Langre, there was graffiti with “tourists go home” and people put on masks and almost ran away when they saw us coming. Very few responded to “Hola, buenas.” We chalked it up to fear of foreigners carrying COVID and didn’t take it personal. We are vaccinated and healthy and are outdoors most of the day and not near people. We see more cows and sheep than people on any given day.

“We survive on adversity and perish in ease and comfort.” Titus Livius

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“Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.” Edgar Allan Poe

Growing up inland, I have never seen corn growing on cliffs by the sea. Right outside the cornfields, we bumped into a fellow pilgrim Donna from Essex again, and she joined us. She joked that it may be salty corn growing instead of sweet corn as there are sheep in Kent called Salt Marsh sheep by the sea that are renowned for their natural slightly salty taste. A woman walked past us and held her nose and glared at us as we backed up to let her pass. We returned her hostility with a smile and local greeting and carried on.

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We ran into surfers just before descending to playa de Los Tranquilos. Many were Australian and more personable.

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At Playa de Los Tranquilos, at the edge of Somo, the Cantabria sea was turquoise and inviting despite the overcast weather. The lighthouse Faro de Cabo Ajo in Santander could be seen in the distance. Limestone formations blocked our way, so we scampered over like crabs and slithered through crevices to avoid sloshing through the sea.

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca

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We waited about 30 minutes for the ferry— all worth it for the beautiful 20 minute ride across the bay, Bahia de Santander.

We realized after getting to our hotel, no matter how many times you look around before leaving your previous hotel, you still forget things after 11 days in. Our adaptor was left in the socket. My washcloth left over the shower door, my writing pen for my journal left on a desk…. and so forth.

“If the road is easy, you’re likely going the wrong way.” Terry Goodkind

When I did laundry at the laundromat not far from the hotel, my little bag of magnesium, probiotics and B Complex got washed in with our clothes and everything smelled horrendous coming out of the wash. I had no more change nor time to rewash our clothes as I had to hunt for more magnesium as I get leg cramps from low magnesium, so it was imperative to use my time to procure more.

Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… . Theodore Roosevelt

Dinner was another challenge as everything opened after 8:30 pm and the restaurants we asked to eat at, the tables were already reserved until after 9:30 pm.

We wandered and I went in and asked at Meson Los Arcos for a table. They had one in a cramped corner with our backs up against a metal pipe. We ordered and were told nothing on the menu was available except squid or monkfish. We were grateful for anything at 9:30 at night. As I walked back to the hotel smelling of squid and clothing permeating with earthy B complex and magnesium eau de toilette, I thought again of the Camino lessons we were to learn of leaving things behind that weigh us down, being humble and patient in adversity.

“Adversity introduces a man to himself.”Albert Einstein

Rain is on the forecast so we know things are not going to get easier. But we wake up ready to tackle each day and feel gratitude for the journey as pilgrims or peregrinos afforded the opportunity to test our mettle, and push past adversity so we truly see ourselves at journey’s end.

“Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be.” Arthur Golden

CAMINO STAGE 10: Laredo to Guemes Camino Del Norte Route -El Camino De Santiago 18 miles 28 days remaining

“Most of us shell our days like peanuts. One in a thousand can look at the world with wonder.” Amor Towles

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“He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” Albert Einstein

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Time felt like it bent backwards on itself today. We lived on Guam for 11 years in the 2000s. We hiked or “boonie stomped”through jungle, over slippery and sharp coral and limestone cliffs, pulling ourselves up with vines and narrowly escaping falling. Today, climbing the cliffs, above the playa de Heljueras past Santona, felt very similar to Guam and, despite the terror that made some hikers turn around, I smiled as I looked down on the ocean far below in wonder.

When we reached the bottom, we got a good laugh walking along the three mile Playa Trengandin as it was a nude beach. I did not gawk in wonder as we’ve stumbled upon nudist beaches before. We walked on and picked up the Camino again through town.

“There are those much more rare people who never lose their curiosity, their almost childlike wonder at the world; those people who continue to learn and to grow intellectually until the day they die.”William Herbert Sheldon

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“Wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.” Neil Armstrong

Past town, we entered cornfields and walked right through harvested fields, just like I used to walk through as a child. I resisted the urge to pluck a couple ears of corn and eat while we walked. Cows were grazing everywhere with their lovely bells sounding in the wind.

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Maybe the most fascinating of all today that filled us with wonder was the Roman bridges and rock walks that withstood the test of time. Even some of the trails we climbed had stones placed by Romans to roll their carts along. We walked in wonder.

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“For in every adult there dwells the wonder of the child that was…” John Connelly

CAMINO STAGE 9- Castro Urdiales to Laredo Camino Del Norte Route – El Camino De Santiago – 23 miles, 29 days remaining

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“Patience and fortitude conquer all things.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have noticed on almost every coastal cliff we tackle, there stands a solitary tree. I don’t know if the lone trees are by accident or design but they withstand the winds and storms and thrive anyway.

I was having a bit of a “Grumpelstiltskin” (grumpy) morning (due to noisy hotels with vacationers who cheer and cackle until 2 am), and the lone tree reminded me to have fortitude and press on, even if stubbornness was the only energy to keep me walking. Within a few minutes the bird calls combined with the sounds of the surf and green as far as the eye could see, set me right again.

“I know of no higher fortitude than stubborness in the face of overwhelming odds.” Louis Nizee

“The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost fortitude, and perseverance.” Samuel Adams

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“I try to view the challenges in my life not as annoyances, but as confirmations of fortitude.” Oprah Winfrey

“The longer I live the more I think of the quality of fortitude… men who fall, pick themselves up and stumble on.” Theodore Roosevelt

We broke up the 23 miles into Laredo into three segments. We stopped at a roadside snack bar for Aquarius, a lemony sports drink, and bumped into our new acquaintance Donna from England again. She frequently gets lost she has to walk much further and her cheerfulness is contagious. Further on we paused and ate clementines and some melted gummie bears for fuel. A little sugar does wonders rejuvenating tired limbs.

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The first 18 miles of huffing and puffing alongside the freeway, then gingerly dodging poop on billygoat trails, followed up by vertically climbing dusty, oily logging roads went relatively fast. Our only company was kids on motorcycles and 4 Wheelers kicking up gravel and dust. At one point our water was low again, and we were grateful for the cloudy rusty red water out of the roadside faucet. The 4 pm mark, after 6-7 hours of walking, is usually the run out of battery” point, but eagles suddenly appeared and glided above us and it motivated us to keep moving. And the piece de resistance was a stunning ocean view opening up the last five miles to Laredo. Another day done and I grateful for the example of the solitary tree, and it’s example of strength, stubbornness, perseverance that helps us continue. Emerson is right, patience and fortitude do conquer all things.

“success is determined by your own confidence and fortitude.” Michelle Obama

CAMINO STAGE 8: Pobena to Castro Urdiales Camino Del Norte Route – El Camino De Santiago 12 miles – 30 days left

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“Our human nature, our human spirit, wants no boundaries” Leslie Marmon

A week before my daughter’s wedding, she and I visited Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art to admire Spanish painter, Bartolomé Murillo’s Two Women at a Window. The lovely girl in the painting was right at the edge of the canvas as if able to permeate it. Murillo was fascinated by boundaries —the secular and the sacred, and the viewer and the painting. He liked the subjects to encroach right up to the viewer’s space. As I admired the painting, I was aware that my daughter, right next to me, would be crossing through the canvas and boundaries of her old life at home and stepping into her own new world, and the awareness left a pang in my heart. But I also felt happiness for her progressing through the stages of her life.

“Compassion knows no boundaries but comes with awareness.” Amit Ray

This morning, while preparing breakfast in the common space of our Camino room rental, one of the other pilgrims left her bedroom with her pack already on her back and headed to the exit. I said “Good Morning,” and she paused. I was suddenly aware she was hungry, and I asked her if she wanted breakfast. She smiled and undid her pack and joined us. She introduced herself as Donna from Essex and explained that she hadn’t had any dinner the night before as she couldn’t find anything open in the small town. (We had packed in groceries from another town for just that very reason.) As we ate, Donna shared that her friends had let her down and backed out of walking the Camino with her, but the journey by herself forced her to cross the boundaries of what she thought she was capable of and allowed her to step across barriers and make friends with pilgrims from various nationalities. Her experience was richer for it. Seeing her depart alone, I felt a pang but admired her courage to stretch her personal comfort zone, push back at limiting boundaries on her road to self awareness and growth.

“Mountains & rivers know the secret… they pay no attention to boundaries.” Brian Andreas

Shouldering our packs, we looked forward to climbing the coastal mountains above Pobena. Soon were at the boundary between the Basque Lands and Cantabria. We had no idea when we crossed over as it possessed the same beauty. Like students of the painter Murillo, we were right up against the cliff drop off and had to be careful as a lot of the protective fence was missing. Steve’s poor feet were still blistered and painful. Watching him walk caused another pang to my heart. But he continued to push through the limits of his own physical boundaries and carried on.

“There should be no boundaries to human endeavor. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.” Stephen Hawking

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“Never assume you can’t do something. Push yourself to redefine the boundaries.” Brian Chesky

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New strength and understanding coursed through us today. Weariness is not gone, but it’s a teaching tool, and we have befriended it. There’s so much beauty and our spirits press to the edges to contain it all. Boundaries were meant to be enlarged as we redefine ours, we push onward with hope.