Kerri Daniels wrote:
I also had an amazing first Camino – ha – which also changed my life. Although I did not have the trepidation that I hear sometimes from others about their first Camino being SO incredible and life changing that they did not want to “ruin” the good sentiments by doing another one.
Over the last couple of years we have had gatherings at the Arden Dimick Library on various Camino topics (stay with me, this answers your question). One of the events that we had was “Art on the Camino”. We had various amazing Sac Pilgrims who shared their artistic endeavors with us … I was blown away. I had never done art, am not particularly artistic, but I was so inspired by the art these Sac Pilgrims produced that I decided to purchase a traveling water color set to bring with me on my next Camino. I was going to make art!!
Not knowing anything about watercolors, it was quite a learning process. My art looked NOTHING like the gorgeous pieces created by our Sac Pilgrims. I like vibrant colors … and as much as I tried to get those fascinating deep and luscious colors into my watercolors … it just wasn’t happening. One day as I was sitting at the picnic table at San Anton struggling with my watercolors a young woman pilgrim sat down beside me. She was an artist! I told her of my struggles with starting out in watercolors and laughed as I told her water colors maybe were not the medium for me as I liked brighter colors. She told me that I too could get deeper, richer colors in my water colors … but first I would have to lay down the first layer. The first layer is barely anything … so watery it is almost no color at all … practically invisible. This is where I had always stopped my painting. She explained that after that first layer, you must wait. You lay down that foundation, you must wait some time … and then you go back in and add to the first layer. As you add a second … and a third … and subsequent layers … your painting will show depth, nuance, and character that you could never get with just a single layer. For me, this is the answer to going on a second, third or subsequent caminos …
The first camino lays down a foundation, an absolutely essential part of your journey, but, like watercolors, it is the second, third and subsequent journeys that add additional depth, nuance, character and richness to the overall experience. A second camino does not take away from the first one, it in fact adds to it, deeply, incredibly so. Ultreia, Peregrina.
Somewhere Along the Way 