Magic.

What I have just experienced is magic. I say this because magic is the only way I can qualify the love I feel for people I’ve just met and will likely never see again. Everyday of the Camino, I sensed myself waiting for something. What that something was I had no clue, but it was a yearning for some life-changing clarity, an ‘aha’ moment, an epiphany. That epiphany never came. But that’s okay, because what I was waiting for was right in front of me the whole time. Hattie, Colorado. Hannah, North Carolina. Nick, Montana. Daniel, Munich. Helen, Australia. Katalin and Stefan, Sweden. These people brought out the absolute best in me. They made me laugh, want to cry, discover, hug and never let go. I love each and every one of you dearly and with my whole heart. People ask me what it was like to finally reach Santiago, how I felt about walking across an entire country—I always thought that this was the part that would change me but boy was I wrong. Reaching Santiago was just the 1,023,053 step. The real magic was in the 1,023,052 steps before the last one. In 27 days I learned to love more fiercely and honestly than I ever have before and for one of the first times in my life, I knew I was exactly where I needed to be. With exactly the right people. The Camino didn’t change my life. They did.