Home Sweet Home!

Our flight was at 6:30 and I had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 5AM just to be on the safe side. When we came out there were a few people walking around that had obviously been up all night. The taxi was right on time and in about 30 minutes we were at the airport. We checked in and flew to Madrid. When we arrived in Madrid we learned that our flight to NYC had been cancelled so they rebooked us one that flew to Dallas. The good news is that we would only get home an hour later than originally scheduled. The bad news is, that Dallas added 3 hours to our main leg of the trip. We also lost our aisle seats that was especially important to my Dad and his bad knee. My Dad checked to see if we could get bumped up to business class but they only had one seat available. I pleaded with him to take it but he would not do it unless his son / sherpa could be with him. So the attendant put us on the waiting list for business class. Right before the plane was to start boarding two seats became available. Sweet....this was going to be nice. We entered the plane and got settled in. I loved it. You had to watch a video just to see how you operate your seat. It was comfortable in just about every way and the food was superb. Thanks Dad! From Dallas we flew straight to Greensboro and after about 24 hours of total travel we landed in Greensboro. Joanne and Lyn were there waiting on us. Lyn came up and presented both Dad and I with a present. She had taken some of our pictures from our trip and personalized them in a frame for us. Love this woman!!! Finally after just a few minutes we were home! As much as I love to travel I also love that feeling you get when you walk into your own home after a long trip away. I am so thankful to have had this trip with my Dad. It is clear that some roles have reversed. It is now me who watches over him like he did me when I was younger. Looking out for uneven stairs or maybe a car coming down the road, even helping him get his leg over his bike. But I can tell you that I am still learning. He is still the teacher. I watch the way he interacts with people over and over and I see the outcomes that come from it. He has no language barriers or at least none that you would never notice. I watched as everyone he talked with was left with a smile and a great story to pass along. We met so many people and heard so many stories that we would have never heard had it not been for his outgoing personality. My Dad did have two bike accidents while we were over there and I did not put them in the blog so as not to worry anyone. The first was innocent enough on a bit of gravel on the dirt walkers path. Everyone ran to his rescue and some how he got back up no worse for the wear. The second one was on the road and a bit scarier and we are still not sure exactly what happened. A car was parked in our lane. I went around it and was a little bit ahead of my Dad at the time. When I looked in my small rear view mirror. I could see that he would be passing the car when a large truck was about to pass him. I thought he might stop but when I looked again he was on the ground with the bike slightly wedged under the parked car. We are still not sure if he was avoiding the truck at the last minute or if he was blown over by the truck. Anyway this time he had hurt his bad knee and we were both shaken up a little bit. The lady came back to her car to check on Dad and the truck driver came back to make sure he was ok. After thumbs up all around we were off again. We rode over a hill and there was a small church. We stopped there went inside and said a few prayers of thanks. My Dad who is 78 (In his 79th year) was the true hero on the Camino. He just kept going at every turn even when quitting would have probably been the best solution. I will always remember our week on the Camino. But as we learned in Santiago your Camino actually starts the day you finish the Camino de Santiago and go back into your regular life. So really our journey and what we have learned is just beginning.  Buen Camino!

Dad's quote for the day is from the movie "The Way". "You don't choose a life. You live one."