I’m home visiting my parents for a few weeks and something reminded me of these photos and blog post I wrote two years ago last month- before I started this blog and before I walked the. Camino. It was June so they are a little gloomy. San Diego in June is like that. It is interest to read something I wrote  just a few years ago and see how I have grown as a person, a writer and a photographer. it is also a lesson in finding that which. God is calling you to. Looking back at it I was on the right track just needed to stay with it. Hope you enjoy. Have a blessed weekend.

For Father’s Day I wanted to surprise my husband with a new bumper for his truck.  It had a slight dent in it, remaining evidence of his attempt to teach our 16 year-old daughter how to drive. My husband may adopt this dent like a fond memory, the way mowing the grass reminds him of time with his dad, or how the smell of baking bread reminds him of his grandmother. A dented bumper might become one of those cherished memories of our daughter learning to drive.

Fixing it, of course, had nothing to do with the fact that my car broke down and now I am driving his truck (with a big dent in the bumper). Nope, that had nothing to do with it.

So while visiting southern California I sought the advice of my younger brother. He directed me to a salvage yard – “you know the one just below the monastery!” Hmmm…. No, I don’t know, but I am definitely checking it out and the monastery too.

After a few missed turns and some u-turns I arrive and yup, there is indeed a monastery high on the cliff above. I dutifully pay my $2 entry fee to look for my bumper, which at this point is a side note. I just want to go to the monastery. But I find that when God is leading me somewhere, the task that got you there needs to be completed. It’s part of the process. So I enter, search for my bumper and nothing! Not a Chevy truck to be stripped of its bumper.

Dutifully I head to the second location he recommended. I had called ahead and they did have a Chevy truck – no bumper, but I could order a new one. All the while I am looking in the rear view mirror, scanning the hillside try to figure how one gets to the monastery. Bummer it will have to wait.

As Mapquest steers me in the right direct, I pass on my right, Prince of Peace Abbey! Really, two salvage yards and two monasteries. I order my bumper and head up the road to the Abbey.

It was just after 11am and the parking lot was full, but but it is too early for an afternoon mass. Maybe I am just searching for something where there is nothing.

I returned a the next day  to pick up the bumper, again driving up to the monastery. This time a little earlier and the parking lot was empty. Nothing!

Returned again the following day for 11 a.m mass. It was beautiful. Too bad I missed it the two previous days. Why didn’t I just go in?