"Her Camino"
Lorraine was born on Feb. 27, 1956 in Toronto, but moved to Hampton, NB when she was four. She claims Hampton as home, and hardly ever mentions Toronto."His Camino"
Thurland was born on June 24, 1953. "Son of a fisherman" is my mantra, as I was the third of five sons (and two daughters) born to a Grand Manan, NB fisherman and his very young wife. Though it is 43 years since I left the Island, the tough life of a fisherman's family still very much shapes who I am today."Our Camino"
I (TdB) was in my first year of Bible College, and she (LmB) was in Grade 11. She was immediately drawn to my "fluorescent orange" hair. (Only those of you have had hair that colour will know what I mean). Truthfully, her first thought was, "Oh my! Look at that hair!" (insert sad face here)In spite of her initial reaction, our spirits were drawn together, and on Aug. 24, 1974 life as Mr. and Mrs. began. For all of those 40 years we have served as the "pastoral family" in small churches in Nova Scotia and Ontario.
"Our Camino" now includes 4 adult daughters who each bring great joy and pride to our lives. And best of all, in addition to joy and pride, they have brought somewhere around 11 of the world's greatest grandchildren.
I say "around eleven" because some are directly born to them, some have come by way of merged families, some are in the process of being adopted. People sometimes ask, "which ones are adopted and which ones are yours?". And I have to say, "I can't remember. But I do know that everyone of them adds great joy to our life camino".
"This Camino"
"This" Camino is about a lot of things.- It's about "celebrating" - the 40th Anniversary of our 1974 wedding. That's why we have chosen Aug 24 as the starting date. Forgive me while I get a little "sappy" here, but when I look back over those 40 years, I know it is only by the grace of God and the godly spirit of my wife that this has survived. She truly is the most selfless person that I know, and is beautiful beyond description because of it.
- It's about "adventure". It is without question the most exciting thing we have ever done together. Our "Fundy Footpath" trek in the summer of 2012 (watch it here) was the first hiking experience, and somewhere through that hike and the days both before and after it, came this inescapable "compelling" that we were supposed to walk the Camino de Santiago.
- It's about "pilgrimage". I'm not fully sure what I mean by that, except to say that for us this is as much a "journey of the spirit" as it is a "physical hike."
Things that have inspired us
- The movie "The Way". Watch it on Netflix, or rent it from your local video store. We had decided to do the Camino before we heard of the movie, so watching it was very exciting for us. It is three things;
- A good story,
- A well presented story
- A GREAT look at the the realities of the Camino.
- MATTHEW, VICTORIA and INDIGO - When we became serious about the Camino, we started looking on You Tube for others' experiences. There are many that we have enjoyed (just search for "Camino de Santiago"), but the one that touched us the most was this young couple who walked it in the winter - starting Jan. 1, 2013. She carried 6 month old Indigo, he carried 72 pounds of their belongings (most people carry 30 or less). We found their story intriguing, and could hardly wait until the next episode came to you tube. I have gathered their video blogs into a playlist that you can find by clicking on their names.
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