I live on an island (Boularderie) within an island (Cape Breton). That’s a pretty unusual thing in itself. In fact, I seem to have a history of finding myself living on islands throughout my life. I was born in Montreal, situated largely on the island of the same name at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence Rivers. I’ve also lived on Campobello Island in New Brunswick just adjacent to Lubec, Maine. And I’ve spent a fair amount of time on Cape Cod – a spit of land separated from mainland Massachusetts by a canal.
A few weeks back I had an itch to do some longer walks so I decided, on a bit of a whim, to walk around the island I currently live on – Boularderie Island. I had heard that there are local folks who sometimes do this in the spring as a fundraiser, so it was not entirely an original idea! Judy and I made an initial drive to get a sense of the distance. The circumference of the island, as measured in our car, is about 90 km. I figured if I walked 10 km each morning I should make it in nine days. Turned out I walked a bit more each day so it only took eight. They didn’t happen all in a row as I chose not to walk if I woke up to pouring rain or had a morning appointment, so it took me about two weeks to find eight walking days. And what a lovely walkabout – there’s so much to see when moving at a human pace! Continue reading
Many have read this book and written about it. It was #1 on the NY Times bestseller list and is recommended reading for those involved with bioethics and other ethical issues, physicians, researchers, etc. For those unfamiliar with it, the book tells the story of Henrietta Lacks (and her family), who unknowingly “contributed” the first “immortal” human cells to be grown outside the body. These cancerous cells became the foundational elements for many vital medical discoveries, while all the while Henrietta and her family knew nothing about what use her cells were being put to, had no health insurance themselves, nor received any acknowledgment of her role. 
We often reflect on how walking the Camino helped us stay focused on the here and now and how easy it was to lose our way when not focused on the present moment. It seemed like we might only lose track of the yellow arrows or shells momentarily before we were wandering off the trail and onto another road or animal track – sometimes together, and sometimes even losing track of one another! The rhythm of walking could sometimes lull us into inattention of our guideposts. The realization that we had lost our markers helped us return our attention towards finding The Way again. Awareness seems key! And in life off of the Camino, one can “walk” a long way off the path before realizing we are in the weeds of our lives, so to speak.
