End of the day

    Well... the Cathedral in Burgos is amazing.  Just looking at it from the outside was pretty awesome.  Í spent another hour and a half inside.  I just finished dinner and people are pouring into the streets of Burgos the same way the do in cities in Italy.  The evening is young, children are rested and now playing and eating ice cream.  I love the social aspect of these streets.
    Today though, I´ve been thinking about my friend Lucy from Trinity.  When Lucy heard I was going on the Camino she came up to me so excited.  She and her husband had visited this area of Spain (I imagine the cathedral in Burgos was among the sights) and she knew all about the Camino.  She was all for my walking it and wanted to know everything about how I was preparing.
    Later, when I let everyone know about my blog she was the first to tell me she had gone to it and would be following me everyday.  And I knew she would.  Lucy always did what she said she would.  But she died the Saturday before I left for Spain, and it was a great loss to me (as a companion to me on this journey) and to our church.
   You see, Lucy was one of those strong women in the church who was a provided leadership.  If Lucy said she would do something - it would be done.  For 15 -20 years I have heard talk (and for a while I tried to get this done) about getting signs up on the major street leading to the church.  We always ran into glitches.  When I heard Lucy was taking care of it, I knew it would be done.  She worked tirelessly to take care of details that kept Trinity going.  I was so looking forward to sharing with her about Spain upon my return.  But perhaps in a another sense she is truly with me on this journey.  On the days when I don´t think I´ll make it any farther, I can think of Lucy saying "oh you can do it, Cathy". 
   Tomorrow I begin the Meseta, a wilderness like part of the Camino that will go on for about 7 days until I arrive in Leon.  It is pretty much very exposed, no shade, miles upon miles with not much change in landscape except for some inclines up onto the mesas and back down.  At the church in San Juan de Ortega there was a whole intaglio with demons in each panel.  I do wonder what the demons will be that might emerge in the Meseta.  Keep me in your prayers.
   And also, would you keep Maria in your prayers.  She is a young woman I met from Korea day before yesterday.  She had stopped on a shaded bench.  She told me she was a nurse, but had quit to take care of both of her parents who had cancer.  They had gotten to be to much for her to care for them.  I´m not sure how, but she told me her father said for her to walk the Camino and take as much time as she needed.  She was a small woman, but her pack was huge.  I didn´t tell her it was too heavy, she´ll find that out for herself.  I have a feeling she will be needing to let go of some other things also.  Please hold her in your prayers.
   On to the Meseta!  May the experience of the wilderness be no less powerful than the other experiences of the Camino.  Bueno Camino!