The other day a good friend of mine gave me a St Michael medallion on a silver necklace. He met me at a Catholic Church (because I’m going to see so many of them on this trek) and walked me through some of the rituals I might encounter when I go into the Churches.
Then he told me something kind of creepy.
Several years ago this same friend’s ex-boyfriend (I know, complicated) called me right after I had returned from a trip to Europe, including a stop in Madrid. A friend of HIS had been in some kind of accident and had been hospitalized in a small town in Spain for over a month completely paralyzed. He wanted to talk to me about Spain and help with the logistics of him going to Spain (alone) to literally kidnap this guy out of the hospital and fly him back to Seattle where he lived. I was close to my friend but I barely knew his boyfriend and had never heard of the guy in Spain.
I thought about it and realized that he didn’t have a chance in hell of pulling this off by himself so without really thinking, I booked a ticket back to Spain, met my fellow kidnapper and we journey to the far reaches of Northern Spain.
We found the hospital and his friend. He was in a tiny room that was meant for 1 bed but it had 2 beds in it. As we entered the room, a woman crawled out from under the bed next to the guy we were going to kidnap. Turns out that in this rural hospital, the Nurses did very little. They left this guy laying in his waste most of the day and only administered medicine as directed. His roommate was a severe stroke victim and his wife was sleeping under his bed and taking care of him. NOBODY spoke English and he had been there alone, paralyzed, for over a month. It was heart wrenching.
We enacted a 4am kidnap. It went off without a hitch. We got to the airport and the airlines were magnificent. We got whisked through Customs, they had elevators set up to pick up the wheelchair we had brought with us and I escorted both of them back to London and saw them onto their flight to Seattle.
My friend reminded me the other day that this was a pretty fucking amazing thing that I did for a complete stranger; paid for it and never ever asked for anything back. It’s just what I do.
Then he told me that the guy we had rescued had been doing the Camino de Santiago when he blew a disc out in his back. I’ve been there before and didn’t even know it. Now I’m going back.
I’m sorry, but this sort of creeps me out. I will be clutching my St Michael Medal.
Joe Jeter 09/23/14 (5 days before departure)
3 Comments
seaangel4444
Joe, I find it symbolic and special that you are taking this journey. The situation you described sounds as if you were guided to assist. And now, you are embarking on this phenomenal adventure for you. I think it’s extremely cool that you were already there. All will be well, I just know it. I’m anxiously awaiting your updates when you are able to do so!! Cher xo
AngeloD
I love this story. This is basically divine providence in it´s truest form. There are all sorts of stories about The Holy Road of Santiago calling people to it – fabled author Paulo Coelho (author of “The Alchemist”) wrote about his accounts on the Camino in his book “The Pilgrimage” – if it´s to be believed as it´s written, he underwent a trans-formative experience… St. Michael is the highest of the Archangels, responsible for kicking the Devil himself out of Heaven, he will certainly look after you on your way.
jjadmin
Let’s hope St Michael is up for the job. As for being called to the Camino, it was an odd set of circumstances that led to me taking this trip. What I found interesting is the similarity between this and what happened 25 years ago when I heard about people riding their bicycles across America again, on a radio as I was driving, and then decided to do it; and then did it. That was a life-changing experience and I suspect that after walking for 35 days there could be some reprogramming going on as well.