He was miserable about his French girlfriend ditching him — We sat in the restaurant, exhausted from twelve hours of walking. My friend Andre and I left our packs near our bottom bunks and went downstairs to eat. We ordered the pilgrim’s menu. In Spain, it’s safe to order pork, if you’re a carnivore. For whatever reason, the pork’s always better than the steak. It’s more tender and flavorful. Often, the…

Spoiler: walking the Camino de Santiago helped — No more monthly periods and pain sounded like a great deal! In my late 40s, I couldn’t wait for menopause. Having endometriosis meant that every cycle heralded pain. As a high school teacher, I couldn’t stay home for three days every month when it was at its worst. I learned…

Newton-John battled breast cancer for thirty years — Rest in peace, beautiful Olivia Newton-John. Until you’ve seen Olivia Newton-John’s music video for “Let’s Get Physical,” you haven’t really lived! Here it is, in honor of Newton-John today. Olivia Newton-John has died at the age of 73, which is being blasted across media today. If you were, like me, born in the late ’50s…

A tragic fall between two large boats, and my ex lost his life — I walked the riverfront, scrutinizing the boat he supposedly fell from. I noticed the front of the boat. I looked for the gang plank, the method of disembarking. I examined the boat pulled up next to it, and considered the hop from one boat to the next. Just a few…

Eighth grade romance, when nothing and everything happened — Eighth grade year, I was hot for Jay. I couldn’t keep my eyes off his tall body, with long legs and broad shoulders. I sat across from him in orchestra, and every time I sat down he stared at me, swallowing hard. I wanted to grab him, hug him, and…

My friend is more of a humanitarian than I am — “You’ll never guess what happened to me today,” my friend said, “A naked kid was walking down the road while I was driving to work.” I groaned a little inside, “So what did you do? No! You didn’t…” “I did. I picked him up. He was just a kid!” “Okay…

The Belgian nun was rude and got paranoid about the police coming, so she yelled at me to leave! — Kay’s pack was stolen, and that was obvious after ten minutes Kay and Ann sent their backpacks forward, so they wouldn’t have to carry them. We were walking Camino de Santiago and had met on the trail. Here we were coming into Leon. We stormed through the gateway of the convent fast, because a smelly drunk guy had seized my shoulders…

I didn’t let anyone’s opinion influence me not to go! — You’re too old! You’re not fit enough! Plenty of people had advice for me. I didn’t listen to much of it, although I had a few sleepless nights before leaving Oregon to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. On the first part of the 500-mile walk, the learning curve…

We were backpackers in Southeast Asia having adventures — The perfumed opium smoke wafted through the air. We were in a small hut with an opium smoker. This was part of the draw of staying in this tiny village in Northern Thailand. We weren’t ‘innocents’ suddenly stumbling upon this guy. Oh, no! …