When I crave a second coffee in the morning, I look to Bill. He says, “I’ll follow you.”
He pulls out a milk-chocolate bar and breaks off a piece for me. We put each square in the basin of our spoon and melt the chocolate into our coffee. Good things take time. We finally head out on the trail by 9:30 in the morning with caffeine in our blood and sugar in our gut.
I’ve walked the Camino de Santiago with my professor. We’ve spent nearly 6 weeks together. Now, had someone told me three months ago that Bill Arney would become my closest Camino companion, I don’t know if I would’ve believed them. But God am I grateful. With his blue sun hat and mining-axe for a walking stick, we blazed through the cow pastors and eroded cliffs with conversation to keep us warm and enough laughs to fill the ocean of our time. I took every opportunity to listen to the cow bells in the wind and feed the donkeys with the sweetest grass. Bill waited for me.
Our paths only diverged for three days. On the third day, I awoke with a mission: Find Bill Arney. I spent three aimless hours lost on the winding streets of Santiago searching for Bill. When I finally found him, he has just finished what I imagined to be his second cup of coffee of the morning. He stood up from his chair and gave me a hug. Before we departed for the albergue together, he gave me another one. Breaking up is hard to do but coming back is easy. We enjoyed a glass of wine and an ice cream cone that afternoon. I recommended that he try pistachio and cream with fig. Fig with cream turned out to be the shining star of his four-flavor-leaning-tower of Italian decadence. We strolled through the park and watched the sun set behind the cathedral where we had attended mass a couple hours prior. As he took the sacrament of Christ, tears fell from my eyes. “How lucky am I?” I thought. I bowed my head and asked God if he had a moment to talk. I prayed for Bill. I prayed for his years left on earth, for his family, for his learning and the fire in his heart.
Bill is my friend.