Inner Child Peregrino
Inner Child Peregrino
by J. Randall Casaus | Pacific Grove, CA
Under the vast, softening sky, the 59-year-old traveler paused on his Camino de Santiago journey at an albergue in La Laguna. He stood at an overlook where a lush valley unfurled before him, a tapestry of rolling hills. Nearby, two horses rested quietly. Yet, the most poignant sight was not the landscape, but the small, bright-eyed boy standing by his side.
The child, no more than five or six years old, clutched the man’s hand with wide-eyed wonder and trust. This was no stranger but the man’s own inner child. He was a fierce little protector who had, for years, bravely guarded the tender parts of his soul. Now, as twilight embraced the day, the man looked down upon that small figure with deep kindness and understanding.
With a gentle smile, the man spoke softly, as if sharing a secret meant only for his own heart. “It is your time.”
In those simple words lay the culmination of a long inner journey. For years, the inner child had confined his boundless energy and unfiltered creativity to the narrow corridors of survival. But now, mature and self-tempered by experience and wisdom, the child’s duty is complete. Time to set free that spirit of laughter, curiosity, and innocence.
The man was not abandoning the boy but inviting him to coexist. No longer would the little boy bear the weight of decisions that only a seasoned person should make. Instead, the man would now navigate life with both the wisdom of age and the lighthearted joy of youth.
The inner child, once the vigilant protector, was free to explore the vast, open spaces of life, dancing in the sunlight of possibilities, playing amidst remembered dreams, and laughing with freedom, unburdened by responsibility.
In that serene moment, with nature’s grandeur unfolding all around him, the peregrino felt a transformation. The protective walls were softening, slowly crumbling to allow the echoes of childhood laughter to mingle with the measured cadence of mature insight.
Together, the man and his inner child stood on the threshold of a new chapter. A chapter in which wisdom and wonder walked hand in hand, each enriching the other. Thus, beneath the ever-changing sky and the quietness of ancient mountains, connected by well-worn paths, he embraced a profound truth: to grow is not to leave behind one’s inner light, but to let it shine freely alongside the steady glow of experience.
The man and the boy walked to the albergue as the sun set quietly behind them.
