My Camino: Day 21 – Father Knows Best

There comes a time in every woman’s life she realizes she’s turning into her father…. or her husband.

For me, it was the socks with the sandals.

By now you all know the grisly details of the four ginormous blisters on my feet which have made my efforts to walk some 500 miles across Spain unbearably painful.

Before leaving for Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago, I had spent months trying on and trying out socks and hiking shoes. I had been in and out of REI so many times that they knew my name, shoe size, where I had gone to college, and when I had lost my virginity. (If my twin daughters are reading this – it was the night you were conceived.)

But no shoe salesperson can ever prepare you for walking 15-miles a day every fucking day for about 15 days. In the end, your body and your feet are going to do whatever they’re gonna do.

And you just deal with it and continue to walk (and whine).

My pre Spanish Schlep prep also included buying something to prevent the dreaded C-word (OMG people calm down) – chafing.

Now I know there are some women out there who were blessed with the much-envied thigh gap, but the rest of us meatier mortals must have rubbed the gods the wrong way, cuz we’ve been rubbin’ and chafing our way through eternity – and take it from me – it hurts and burns like hell on earth.

But here’s the rub – men suffer from the chafe as well.

My husband had just arrived in Leon to support me and my Camino adventures, and he was complaining about the raw rub.

I told him, go into the bathroom, look for the pink deodorant thingy and apply some of the “body glide” to your boo boos.

I mean he’s a grown man, I didn’t think he needed any more information or a tutorial- right????!!!! Wrong.

Later that evening, I went in the bathroom and noticed the stick of Body Glide wasn’t there.

“Umm, whadya use for your chafing, cuz the pink stick’s not here?”

“Yeah it is – it’s next to that green tube”

“You mean you used this peach colored tube?”

“Yeah, and it really worked well, all the chafing is gone.”

“Umm, that’s my hair gel”

“Well that dippity do, did the trick!”

Who knew a salon treatment for limp, fine, and chemically treated hair would provide such soothing comfort. (I know, I know, “limp and fine” in the same sentence-but it’s too easy.)

That’s when I realized how much we need each other and how alike we truly are.

Where else but on him and other fathers have I seen socks and sandals TOGETHER?

We have fathers from around the world to thank for giving us the ugly, but oh so comfy and practical hats.

And let’s not forget the fannypacks or as they’re called in Ireland, the bum bags. There’s not a dad out there who’s been on vacation and left his behind bag, behind.

And I’ve embraced them all without shame.

The socks and sandals have saved my feet, the hat hides my bed head AND protects my neck and face from the fierce sun, and as for the bumbag – it’s now like a new appendage – I feel naked without it. Kate Spade and Coach your bags are dead to me.

They say you’ll find your true self on The Way to Santiago de Compostela, and if that’s so, then I guess my true self is all dad…..