A Year of Extremes

Photo by anat_tikker.

I have never been one for extremes.  I'm not a couch potato nor am I an adrenaline junkie.  I don't like thrift stores nor have I ever bought anything at Chanel.  I workout on a regular basis, but I'll eat a buffalo burger and fries with the best of 'em.  I've baked a few cookies in my day, but I couldn't tell you what the hell a 'roulade' is.  I've never been straight-edge nor have I been a hardcore partier.  I even claim agnostic... how much more neutral can one get? 

Every NYE a dear friend of mine 'deems' the next year "The year of [fill in the blank.]"  If I could sum up 2011 upon looking back, it would be "The Year of Extremes."  I didn't simply go on a vacation this year; I took three months off to walk 1000 miles through Europe with my mother.  I didn't simply fall in love; I met the love of my life.  And the kicker?  He lives thousands of miles away overseas.  I didn't just move; I suffered through a bout of bed bugs that sent me packing to a new apartment with an eviction notice awaiting.  I didn't have a few doctor's visits; I had two surgeries and mounds of medical bills.  I didn't simply get a few parking tickets like normal folk; I got into a full on car accident with a couple who hopped out like paparazzi and took pictures of the damage before I even realized I'd been in an accident.  I didn't simply chip a tooth; I cracked it on piece of sea salt in a thousand year old convent and had to have a root canal.  I'm not simply engaged to be married; I'm getting hitched in Vegas - the town where extremes are born.  And for the first time in my life I've had to hire a lawyer... Two of them!

Life has been a roller coaster ride since I took my first step in the Arles soil and began my Camino journey.  On the Camino, every day plays out much like the one before.  The real extreme is not so much the miles or the vagabond lifestyle (although those are up there), as it is the emotions you have to roll up your sweat-wicking sleeves and deal with.  Emotions you either have to battle or find a comfortable home for.  Every day new things were unearthed inside me.  Some good, some bad.  But none of them temperate.

But as this year comes to a close, I would like to say, My Dearest Camino, that I'm ready to get off the roller coaster for awhile.  You see, my back is a little tweaked from all the rocking, and I simply can't afford anymore tickets to ride.  The ups and downs of life keep it interesting, true, and when you go on the Camino, you're asking for a wild ride... a ride that doesn't end when the Cathedral of Santiago looms before you.  Yet, sometimes you've just had enough of the zigzags and free falls. 

My friend suggested that 2012 be deemed "The Year of Happiness," and I like that.  But for me, I'd like to deem my new year "The Year of Mellow Moderation."  Not only because I have a soft spot for alliteration, but because I'm ready to get off the roller coaster ride the Camino has sent me on, plant my feet and eat a funnel cake as I watch others laugh, cry, scream, barrel roll, corkscrew and twist their way to the end of the track.  And there I'll be waiting, to hand them a frozen lemonade and welcome them back to solid ground.