A pilgrimage toward The Pilgrimage

I am embarking on a journey and would like to enlist your support.

Every year The Avalon School and its sister school, Brookewood, hold a pilgrimage to ask Our Lady's intercession for the continued growth and development of the schools. My husband is one of the founding teachers of Avalon, and my daughter is in her second year at Brookewood. For my family, these schools aren't just a job and an education -- they are a very specific call, a designated path in our lives.

The walk is more than twenty (20) miles. In the past, I have been able to complete one leg, about three (3) miles.

(You mathmagicians out there will be able calculate the disparity).

Last year, as I watched the boys and girls and teachers and parents and friends trudge through all 25 miles, I was so proud of them and the schools, yet so disappointed with myself. I physically did not have the stamina to even attempt more than one part of the journey. But underneath my sadness, I heard a small voice. "Next year", it said to me. I looked up and saw the back of the statue of Our Lady being carried in procession and promised that next year I would be right behind her.

Preparations have begun. For the last few weeks I have been walking most days for increasing periods of time. My treadmill committed suicide the first day, so I have been walking through my somewhat hilly neighborhood in various kinds of weather. It is a slow beginning, but at least it has begun.

Will you come with me on these little walks? There's a poll question in the top right hand corner of the main page. Tomorrow is my birthday, and the day the Catholic Church celebrates the birth of Mary. Make us a gift and say a prayer --that The Pilgrimage may be a success, and that I may accomplish my part in it.