Dealing with loss is an individual event.  Dealing with the loss of the love of your life with whom you have spent the past 50 years and raised two wonderful children and made hundreds of friends is a task so daunting it can not be comprehended.  I was supposed to be the one that died first.  This is NOT THE PLAN.  Loosing Jean so suddenly and when we were at our happiest, in the prime of our lives could not have been a bigger shock.  There are no words.  And so I will walk the Camino again and deal with how life will go on.

I start on 3 Sep in Porto and will do the Camino Portugues with a plan to finish on 16 Sep.  From there we had planned to take an Adriatic cruise from Barcelona to Vienna  so that is what I will do without her.  It is now my mission to live out the fabulous life we had planned alone but with her memories and guidance always playing in my mind.  For I am the man I am because of her.  There is no better place to deal with loss or happiness for that matter than along the Camino de Santiago.  She knew how much it meant to me when I walked the Camino Frances 3 years ago and she agreed that I should walk the Camino every couple of years.  I never thought I would be doing it in her memory or not texting her every day when I arrived safely in each town.  I trust she will know as she will be watching.  This is why I have decided to continue the blog.  Whoever is out there – be with her and me along the way.