We are Each Other’s Angel
We are Each Other’s Angel
by Winsome G. Gayle | Washington, DC
We rescue each other in grand and small ways. When I walked into Father Antoine on my way up the path away from Molinaseca and realized that he was a knowledgeable companion, I told him that he saved me. He replied, “We are each other’s angels.”
My Camino followed a series of eye surgeries. Although I was healing, I was a visually impaired pilgrim. I had walked for weeks since heading out of St. Jean Pied de Port and my confidence was at its height when I got myself in a pickle before encountering Father Antoine. I had happened upon an unmarked and confusing section surrounded by prickly brushes (some of which got the better of me). I was about to give up and walk by the roadside when I encountered him. I’ll have to save the full story for another time. Here, I want to focus on the message: We save each other.
There are myriad ways in which I was saved by others without their knowing. Following the steep climb from Vega de Valcarce, excited Spanish students revealed the path through a dark section of woods. Then there were the entrepreneurial people who set up in the woods with much-needed drinks and snacks. Small in number, they always appeared in the middle of a long stretch without a village. Other pilgrims, sharing their stories, often provided some insight. They didn’t know how much I needed to hear about their experiences. There was the woman who had a congenital condition that led to her getting cataract surgery in her thirties. She seemed to be seeing well. I wondered if her surgery, decades earlier, led to advancements that benefited me indirectly. You never know. Then there was the California woman who had two major heart attacks, one a dozen years ago and the second not long ago, and here we were walking together. My partner had had a heart attack a little more than two years before I set off and was still regaining her strength, so I shared this story of resilience with her.
And, I shared what I could with others—companionship, knowledge, food. I have no idea whether I impacted the people I met. But angels come in all shapes and save us in all ways. Why not me, too?
