Concerning Rocks

Paved roads are not the norm on the Camino. Dirt pressed with rocks is the usual earth under foot.

Early in the morning at fresh start I don't feel a single one underfoot. By the end of the day, tied and worn I can feel each one through the soles of my hiking shoes. Not all the pathways are like this, but when I reach one a spectator might witness my eyes rolling like a teenager's under an early curfew. Rock? Again?

Once in a while there is a rock walked over that messes up the rest if the walk - sharp, shooting pain because of a wrong step. Stepping on that rock any other way would have been painless, but because of the way I interacted with that static object I am now in pain. As a result I pay less attention to the sky, the landscape, the people. I become blind to everything but the rocks and my feet.

How close to life. How many situations in life we encounter where the means of our interaction with the situation - not the objective situation itself - causes us pain. The situation then absorbs all attention and we can become blind to all else. 

I have no solutions; I'm still dealing with the rocks now. However...

May all your roads be rockless.