blog from Luna... RE: trying our boots

On Sunday (the 21st) Mum, Rosa and I went to Paddy Pallin in the city to find walking boots. When we found the 'shoes' section a lovely lady calle Mel asked if we wanted assistance, of course we said yes because I'm not sure about you but we had absolutely NO idea what sort of boots to chose. Mel picked a few opitions which she thought would be good for our walk and got them out of the storage cupboard. The boots I tried on were really comfy and fitted me perfectly but then i realized that we are still not walking for a few months and my feet have been growing and growing so i may as well get a bigger size. I was amazed to find out that my feet were the same size as mum's! And the bigger size boot was just as comfy but would probably last a bit longer. Mum went through option after option and she was going to leave the shop without buying anything but then me and Mel persuaded her to buy a pair of boots much like mine, but slightly different... Everyday after school, i've been taking of my uniform, putting on my trakkies and a comfy shirt and putting on my boots (which i can tell you are HEAPS more comfy than school shoes. I reckon the walk is going to be heaps fun but i'm going to miss my friends a LOT!!!!!! Thanks so much for all you contributors (or what ever the word is) I must admit that it's pretty cool that we already have so much money going to MS research and we've only had our everyday hero page up for 5 days!!!!! Anyway it's special to me that we raise as much money as we can because as most of you know, my dad has MS... So thanks again everyone.. XOX Luna ;-)

up and running

Wow, we just started sending messages out about Our Walk For Felipe and the response has been amazing - thank you to all those who have sent messages and donated. Our web-based fundraising campaign maybe 'viral' but this virus is life-enhancing - its symptoms are compassion and caring support. Muchos Gracias. As I was walking around the cliffs today I thought how appropriate it is to be using the technology like this because the Internet is Felipe's realm and there were so many times that I saw him start a campaign of one kind or another by sending out a seed message...

Reading about the Camino

To get a visual and experiential sense of the walk to Santiago I found a fantastic book called _Camino Footsteps_ by Malcolm and Kim Wells (2008). Great photos and a text that is descriptive and evocative. You can find it at Berkelouw Books. Lonely Planet covers the Camino well in their Spain book and in more detail in their _Walking in Spain_ I found a book by an English writer, Tim Moore about his journey with a donkey _Spanish Steps: One Man and his Ass on the Pilgrim Way to Santiago_. Hilarious. I found it at the Waverleyl Library (whose catalogue has about 20 hits on 'Camino de Santiago.' Including Paulo Coelho whose book _The Pilgrimage_ documents his spiritual transformations on the walk . Felipe had this book in his bookshelf.

In May 2010, we will walk for three weeks on the Camino de Santiago, the path that has existed since the early middle ages...I see the walk from St Jean Pied de Port through the Pyrenees and Galicia to Santiago de Compostela as a journey of adjustment and acceptance, the transition from one period in our life to another. I don't imagine that it will be easy but I anticipate that it will us time to think, to process, to locate the resilience in our souls and the compassion in our hearts.

The girls' father, Felipe Rodriguez Svensson comes from the country near Santiago and we will be walking both for him, and to him, as he deteriorates physically because of the disease, multiple sclerosis. We hope the walk will raise awareness about, and money for research into MS.

It is something Felipe and I always talked about doing when the children were old enough.