We Are All Gerry – luckily. In February of this year I had a catchup call with Seth, a great friend of mine who I try to connect with as regularly as life allows us to. We used to work together; and became almost instant friends when I started at the company.
Before the call, I received a text from Seth saying, I want to run something by you. Since we stopped working together I never once had a request for Seth to run something by me, so naturally I was curious.
On the call he asks if I had ever heard of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage that officially ends at Santiago de Compostela, the capital city of Northwest Spain’s Galicia region and the culmination of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.
Seth wanted to do the pilgrimage as part of his birthday celebration and asked if I would come with him. He describes to me how we’d be walking 20-30 kilometers per day and staying at these places called albergues, which are basically hostels along the routes. I was honoured that he asked me and was happy to accompany him on the pilgrimage, which was significant to him.
For the sake of brevity, I will speed up the story to the part where I’m lying on the pavement at the bottom of a steep hill in front of an albergue, using my backpack as a pillow, after traversing nearly 30 kilometers of mostly inclines. My solitary snooze was interrupted by a German couple that I met earlier in the day who were also staying at the albergue for the night.
As we chatted away we watched other pilgrims pass by, until one of them stopped and asked us if we knew of any rooms available. We didn’t know, and since it wasn’t open yet there wasn’t anyone to ask. He was a tall, heavy-set man who seemed to lumber more than he walked. He was carrying a full hiking backpack, wearing braces on his knees and holding a hiking pole in each hand. We introduced ourselves to him; his name was Gerry. As luck would have it, or just the Camino providing as it does, there was one last room available.
After a rotation in the communal bathroom to clean up and take a rest before dinner, everyone started to gather in the quaint courtyard that was also an outdoor dining area. I was going through a VC program at the time and had to be in a Zoom for class as the other pilgrims were connecting or reconnecting with one another.
Class ended just in time for me to hear Gerry say, “In the Czech Republic beer isn’t alcohol it’s vitamins,” as he proceeded to take a big chug of the local Spanish beer, Estrella Galicia. Gerry doesn’t talk to anyone in particular, as he sits alone, washing away all the pain from his day’s journey with ointments, alcohol, and the satisfaction of being part of the community.
We exchange a few pleasantries with Gerry as our food starts to come out, and a bottle of Rioja to wash it down with. I mostly listen, as I’m wont to do. I’ve always been fascinated by stories, and Gerry certainly has a fascinating story.
He is originally from the Czech Republic but moved to Boston in his 20’s to find work so he could send money back to his family. He has been a plumber for over 30 years, which could help explain his bad knees and lack of mobility. I asked everyone I met along the way why they were doing the pilgrimage. For Gerry, this was truly the first time that he’d ever really done anything for himself. He’s sacrificed so much to provide for his family. He goes on to tell us that he tried doing the pilgrimage in May (it was October) but couldn’t finish it; his body didn’t cooperate. He said he started training more to prepare for this second attempt. Gerry was determined to finish the pilgrimage this time around.
The following morning Seth and I continued our journey around 6:30 in the morning. As we were walking through the first main city that day we caught up to Gerry; he had left around 5 AM. He was happy to see us and we wished each other a ‘Buen Camino’.
Gerry’s story will likely never get told, but as I reflected on the Camino his story stood out to me because of the lessons I drew from it. They are built around the theme of doing. As entrepreneurs, builders, and doers we are always doing; and oftentimes doing for others. So the question is, what are we doing for ourselves? Here are the lessons, more like urgent reminders, from Gerry:
- Do things you want to now before you’re too old to do them. The cold reality is, there will be things that we won’t be able to do physically or mentally as we age. Why wait until ‘retirement’ to do things? One of the main lessons I’ve learned throughout my career is that the work will still be there when you come back from your holiday.
- Do things for yourself and do it your way because you deserve to. One of the common euphemisms from the pilgrimage is, “It’s your Camino so do it your way.” It is as true on the Camino as it is in business and life.
- Do it again, if you don’t succeed the first time. I admired Gerry’s determination to attempt the pilgrimage again in the same calendar year. It was abundantly clear that this was important for him. We will often fail in business and in life. It’s a choice to proverbially and literally get back up and go.
The grace we show ourselves is just as important as the acts of selflessness we show to others. We don’t know for certain if Gerry finished the pilgrimage this time around. We were certainly rooting for him and hope he did!
