About “All Roads Lead Home- Life, Love, and Forgiveness on the Camino de Santiago”:
Last year after my life crashed and burned I booked a ticket to Europe and walked across Spain on the Camino de Santiago. I blogged about it, and the journey of my life over the last few years which included divorce, emotional abuse, estrangement from my daughter, therapy, loneliness, thoughts of suicide, insecurity, self-esteem and doubt, and finally my relationship with a beautiful, recently divorced mother of 4 who was dealing with her own shit as well, who saved my life.
Since then I’ve found that my writing resonated with many, so I’m turning my blog into a book- I recently returned from Spain to walk a little more of the Camino, and add some final “chapters” to my story.To read an excerpted version of my original blog click here. My new blog and the final “chapters” of my story can be read below.
About “Althea and the BIG IDEA”.
“Althea” is an early chapter book about creativity and where ideas come from. I wrote the book because, well, the idea just came to me, and so I wrote it down and subsequently developed it (which is, well, sort of the theme of the book!). I am currently looking for an illustrator to collaborate with (I designed the current cover from two stock images I purchased). You can learn more about Althea at altheaandthebigidea.com.
Thanks for visiting.
T o r e c e i v e f u t u r e p o s t s , c l i c k h e r e
All Roads Lead Home- The Movie.
Well, not really. The following video will introduce you to the flavor, tone, and feel of “All Roads Lead Home – Life, Love, and Forgiveness on the Camino de Santiago”.
About this Blog
Three years ago my life was a shit-bag of chaos, tears, cheap wine and cigarettes. I was living in a shithole studio apartment, driving a ’94 Celica, broke and with no job to speak of. I was separated from my 12 year old daughter and wife of 20 years due to a marriage that had become abusive.
I woke up one morning after dreaming about suicide and knew I had to do something, so I did what any reasonable person would- I booked a ticket to Spain and walked across it.
Don’t ask why. All I know is that this voice in the back of my head told me to.
Turns out walking across Spain probably saved my life and was the beginning of a journey towards healing and some sort of redemption.
That voice in the back of my head also told me to write about my journey- both physical and emotional- so I blogged about my walk, and my life as I stumbled across Spain on an old pilgrimage route called the Camino de Santiago.
I plan to unpack that shit-bag of chaos that was my life and pass on what I learned about each item in the bag, and how I finally got the strength to throw those things away. In the end, I guess this blog’s about faith, hope, love, and a few blisters.
I hope you choose to walk alongside me on this journey. Thanks for stopping by. If you’d like to subscribe, click here.
A Good Friend will help you Move, but a True Friend will help you Move a Body- Notes from the Camino de Santiago
What makes us becomes friends after being thrown together by the mad squalls and storms that life provides? What forces of nature cause us to remain friends?
How Love is Like a Handbag and Why You Should Dump the Contents of it on the Table- Notes from the Camino
When you’re older you have baggage. That baggage is packed with habits, foibles, and deeply rooted convictions that cause you to shy away from life, things that get in the way of functioning clearly and living purposefully.
Life is a Bitch. If it Was a Slut it Would be Easy-Notes from the Camino
I never really thought about being unworthy until a few years ago. But then again, a few years ago is when my life became a shitbag of chaos which, in my case, forced me to look inside and deal with the things that were making me wake up to dreams of suicide.
Shame is a Soul Eating Emotion- Notes from the Camino de Santiago
My last post was going answer the question “Why is feeling unworthy so epidemic in our society”? But I turned on the computer and my favorite background music, looked at my notes, and …cried. And I know it’s because I’m still perplexed as to why we treat ourselves like shit…
You’re Not an Accident- Notes from the Camino de Santiago
Why is feeling unworthy so epidemic in our society? In the promotional video I created for my upcoming book “All Roads Lead Home- Life, Love, and Forgiveness on the Camino de Santiago” I said “Some people might think walking 500 miles across Spain is a big deal…
Of Grace and Blisters- Notes from the Camino de Santiago
What is grace and what the hell does it have to do with anything? Grace is one thing I learned about on the Camino. Webster’s says it’s: “Unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification. A virtue coming from God. A state of...
Love is in the Air. No wait, that’s barbecue- Notes from the Camino de Santiago
To this day I really can’t say exactly how I ended up stumbling across Spain on the Camino de Santiago. I guess in part it was due to a broken heart. I had been dumped by the woman I had fallen in love with after getting out of a 23 year marriage…
The Voice in the Back of My Head is a Douchenozzle- Notes from the Camino de Santiago
It was a clear morning and the moon was full as I walked down the windy streets of Ventosa alone. The Portland girls (who were in the bunks above and beside me) got up at 430 so I followed suit and left Cormac behind.
Daring Greatly- Notes from the Camino de Santiago
Day 6- Estella to Torres Del Rio (“Notes from the Camino de Santiago” retraces my walk across Spain on the Camino de Santiago and relates some of the lessons I learned from the experience.) It was still dark out as I walked out the door of the...
What my Dead Father Taught Me about Life- Notes from the Camino de Santiago
I had been going through a rough period and was questioning my life, my choices, my marriage. It was a year or two after the recession and things had gotten bad at home, my wife and I disagreeing on just about everything…
5 Reasons to Live: Notes from the Camino de Santiago
Three years ago, I didn’t have any. My life in California had fallen apart and I found myself in France at the foot of the Pyrenees on a wet-gray morning with a 35 pound pack on my back and the foolish idea that if I walked across Spain I might be able to come to...
Shine
The days slide by as we live out these steps that lead us down the path of the finest destination any of us has ever traveled. Don’t think. Don’t anticipate. Just be. Be the chirping crickets, the dancing fireflies, the coyotes howling at the moon. Be the crashing sea, the howling wind…
Disregarding the Light- A Video Haiku
Why in the hell do we obsessively root around in the dark recesses of our souls while disregarding the light and beauty that life is…
Souls Collide- A Video Haiku
And sometimes in the random moments of the night souls collide. And we may never know why. Note to self. Never ask why.
How Rare and Beautiful It Is That We Exist- Notes from the Camino
I walked along the beach in Finisterre picking up a few scallop shells to bring home and wondered if I really would be able to, as Thomas Wolfe said…
Quasimodo and the Gates of Heaven- Notes from the Camino
Olveiroa was definitely a beat town (Rachel had described it as a “cowboy town”), although when I left I passed by a cool restaurant/pension. An old stone building was faced with glass, and it gave a contemporary feel to this old stone building. I hadn’t run across it...
Mark’s Santiago de Compostela/ Don Elías Sampedro playlist – Notes from the Camino
I think we’re all slaves to our emotions. That’s not to say that emotions are bad things. Au contraire mon frère (or mon soeur)! In fact, I think emotions are the sign posts of our lives. Like the yellow arrows painted on the Camino by Mad Monk Don Elías Valiña Sampedro…
Ayn Rand, Rubber Chickens, and a One Eyed Crazy old Goat- Notes from the Camino
I got downstairs to the cafe that was attached to the Auberge Carmen, my place for the night. I was going to just leave and see what was down the road before I got something to eat, but I decided instead to grab a chocolate croissant…
Dead Saints and Bocadillos- Notes from the Camino
I finally got on my bus in San Sebastian. The negative vibe that had surrounded my heart and soul was giving way…slowly. I was paranoid of missing the bus so I was at the station early, but I did stop on the way to pick up a few supplies,,,
A Day Off with Jesus in San Sebastian- Notes from The Camino
I left the auberge in Pamplona at 630 and walked across the street for a cafe con leche. Penny and Rachel had left earlier so I sat down for a coffee alone. After a few minutes other pilgrims streamed in. I sat at the bar and listened…
What’s Love Got to Do with It?
I packed up and walked out of the small (2 rooms 16 beds) auberges in Zubiri, and across the street to the cafe where I had ran into Kento for I think the 2nd time last year. (Kento was the “Zen Coyote Patron Saint of the Camino” for those who were along for the ride...
Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make my way home…
A promotional video for my blog/book I created to show to agents/publishers: DAY TWO Last nights dinner in Rocenvalles was awesome. One might not think so considering what I had to go through to get fed. It was sort of as if the Keystone Kops were on Kitchen...
They say every Man must Fall…
Last years blog began with me pondering the eternal question: “Who ever thought my pilgrimage would begin with me jerking off into a plastic cup? I’ve rethought that. I’m thinking my pilgrimage actually may have started on a dirt path in the hills of Palos Verdes,...
There’s a beauty in empathy, and grace in forgiveness…
*Note- I’m still evolving the “form”, if you will, of this blog. I want it to be stylistically somewhat similar to the blog I wrote while I walked the Camino de Santiago, where I decided to intertwine two significant journeys I’ve undertaken over the...
Images from “All Roads Lead Home, Life, Love, and Forgiveness on the Camino de Santiago”
