In awe of big brother

My brother and his wife, both newly retired albeit at a younger than normal age, recently completed a journey that most people a third of their age would find too challenging: they walked nearly 500 miles from St. Jean Pied-du-Port in western France across northeastern Spain over a span of 35 days. That's right, they walked, carrying nothing more than a backpack with all their essentials, for five weeks.

For sure, it wasn't easy. My brother Lou began the journey with pain in his right heel. He then caught a cold. Early in the walk, he also injured an ankle and rib. After a few weeks, blisters in his feet, he found himself feeling so foul that Andrea, his wife of 35 years, suggested they consider abandoning the second half of the walk. 

Lou and Andrea had planned their "Camino de Santiago" adventure for nearly two years, and trained for it on paths around North Carolina, where they've lived for 30 years. Lou's been a lifelong walker, starting in his native New York City and then while living in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and going on to serve in the U.S. Army. Even as he became diabetic and needed frequent insulin injections to regulate his blood sugar, he picked up his pace enough to run four full marathons, including the New York City Marathon in 1991. 

Andrea has also enjoyed walking and hiking her entire life. In fact, her and Lou's paths first crossed while hiking in the Grand Canyon. Three years later, they married. After he retired from teaching and she from nursing, it was only appropriate they begin their "golden years" with the kind of walk that rarely makes it beyond the bucket lists of most hikers. 

Even with his ailments, Lou was determined to complete the walk with Andrea. Fortunately, after nearly calling it quits, he began to feel better and stayed the course.  The two of them walked triumphantly, if not a bit wearily, into Santiago de Compostela a few weeks later, and ended their stay in Spain by spending several days in both Madrid and Barcelona.

I've always been in awe of my big brother.  Lou's successful completion of his long walk with Andrea this autumn reminds me how special a person he is and how much this little brother has to look up to.