The thread from Arn had me thinking about stuff I brought on the Camino that I used up and, in one case, lost. At the alburgue in Roncevalles, there is the table where you can see the extra clothes, footwear, huge sleeping bags, and other stuff pilgrims leave after that challenging stage of the
Camino Frances. What were you happy to leave behind or even lose? What lightened your load, physically and/or metaphysically?
I had brought a light tan a ball cap from home to wear because I liked the material and it breathed well while keeping the sun off my head. But embroidered on the front of the hat was the logo of my place of work, which at that time was quite unpleasant. A couple of hours after leaving Orisson early in the a.m., I stopped for a quick break to adjust my pack and shed some layers. At my lunch stop a few hours later, I realized the hat was not on my head. Apparently I set it down during my pit stop on the French side of the mountains and in my haste to get on The Way, I left it behind. I felt bad about littering the Pyrenees with my clothing and not having that visor to keep the sun off my face. But in a poignant way it reminded me to let go of some of those emotions we sometimes carry from work to home and maybe, for a few of us, all the way to Spain.
Epilogue: Turns out they sell hats in Spain that are even more awesome.