Glancing Back & Looking Forward

I’m hoping this post finds you easing into the New Year with a satisfied nod to the year that was and a clear idea of the resolutions or goals you plan to tackle in 2025! 

While my own resolutions tend toward the self or home improvement variety, adventure travel is always in the mix. In a few weeks, I head to Patagonia and Antarctica with National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions. This trip has been a thought in my head for years, and I’m grateful to be making the journey with good friends from NW Indiana.

2024 found me in Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, and Spain, where I hiked 100 km of the El Camino from O Cebreiro Pass to Santiago de Compostela. I promised to provide details of that trip, but I couldn’t have expressed all of what it entailed any better than my fellow pilgrim, Kendra Webster.  I hope you enjoy her story and what her led her to select the journey with me and thirteen other creative-minded women.

“The Hills I Have Climbed”

By Kendra L. Webster

That 10 PM phone call from my doctor is one I’ll never forget. She was calling about the results from routine bloodwork. I listened as she explained that the normal range for a white blood cell count is between 4 and 10. Mine was at 120. I was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML). I’d already been sitting in a deep well of grief due to the losses of my dog and my marriage. Facing the loss of health felt like more grief than I could handle.

For most people, CML is treated with a daily medication called a Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (TKI). The TKI medications work well for most people, bringing the leukemia cell count down to below zero in the first 6 months. For those of us who are sensitive to side effects, however, it can take longer to pinpoint a tolerable dose that is still effective. Initially my side effects included fevers, nausea and diarrhea. I lost 25 pounds during my second month on the medication. And in the midst of dealing with side effects and grieving, I found myself looking for a new oncologist. 

My oncology appointment in November 2023 was an emotional one. The new doctor shared that I still had not reached full molecular remission—the goal for CML treatment— and that I also needed to lose more weight. Facing another birthday and holiday season alone, and the pressure of dropping more weight, felt like such a giant uphill battle.

A few days later, I noticed my writing teacher, Laura Davis, was leading a trip to Spain in September 2024. Participants would write, learn watercolor, and hike 100 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago. Traveling to Europe had been at the top of my bucket list for years. A hiking goal like this could certainly inspire me to focus more closely on my health. 

But could I really get in shape enough to hike 100 kilometers? What about my fear of flying? What about the fact that I would know nobody on this trip except for my writing teacher? I don’t even speak Spanish! Did I have what it would take to do this? 

The Camino de Santiago, or The Way of St. James, is a series of routes leading to the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in northwestern Spain. Ancient tradition declares the cathedral as the final resting place of the apostle Saint James. The routes to Santiago have been traveled by pilgrims throughout Europe for hundreds of years. 

After months of cardio and weight training, walking, and amassing my hiking gear, I gathered the courage to board an international flight for the first time. I arrived at the Santiago airport with a few other pilgrims on September 1, 2024. Once there, we spent three days writing, learning watercolor, and getting to know one another before setting off on the trail. 

On our second day in Spain, we wrote about standing on the edge of uncertainty, each of us having been called to this ancient pilgrimage for various reasons. I wrote in our writing circle, “I’m standing on the edge of discovering the path before me, a path I can’t predict or control or even imagine ahead of time—much like life itself. I am standing on the edge of experiencing the possible, the magic, the beauty of the terrifying and inspiring unimaginable next step.”

One of the many magical parts of walking the Camino was that everything I experienced was for the first time and the last time all at once. The forests, farmlands, tiny stone villages, and café stops were all places that we would never visit again on the trip. This brought a focus to each moment and a desire to drink everything in as much as possible. Our guides and instructors encouraged us to take note of all we felt, saw, heard, and tasted, and then to photograph, sketch, or paint anything that inspired us. 

As we neared the final days of our journey, we began to think about the small stone we brought from home, one that symbolized the burden we wished to leave behind once we completed the Camino. This is a longtime pilgrim tradition. I was in Spain to release my burden of grief and uncertainty over health issues. So, I carried that stone for myself, the woman who faced personal and physical hardship at the edges of a post-COVID world. 

On our last day, before we entered the city of Santiago de Compostela, we stopped at the Mountain of Joy. Our first glimpse of the cathedral was from a distance. Now a tight-knit group of fifteen pilgrims, we wrote, we laughed, we cried, and we sang. We celebrated the long journey we had made together and congratulated one another on our accomplishment. I felt so blessed by this community of sisters—no longer alone on this incredible journey of life. As I laid my stone on the Mountain of Joy, I was finally able to release all that I had carried with me to Spain. But was the journey complete, or had it just begun?

Since I have been home, I discovered that pilgrimage can take any form on any given day. I don’t need to travel to be on a pilgrimage. The lessons and experiences from Spain are now a part of me, and I am grateful for them, even the hills I thought I could never climb. It turns out I can climb them one, slow, thoughtful step at a time. I just need to keep on walking.

Whether you decide to pick up a new hobby like hiking, develop new self-care or self-improvement routines, or book an adventure travel experience, I wish you the best as the New Year 2025 begins. 

News & Follow Me Here

On December 20th, Julie’s essay, “Why the Details on Your OBR Matter––A lot!” was published in Severance Magazine.

January 3:  Julie will return to guest on the Adult Child of Dysfunction podcast with host Tammy Vincent. They will discuss her new book, Twice the Family. 

January 10: Help One Child podcast will host Julie on their show. They will discuss foster, adoptive and kinship family systems.

February 4: Julie’s new memoir, Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood hits the bookshelves. It’s the long-awaited prequel to her award-winning debut, Twice a Daughter.

February 6: Julie will guest on the 8000 Promises: Cycle Breaking and World Changing From the Inside Out podcast with Adi Tilford.

February 7: Julie will discuss her new book on Blog Talk Radio as a guest on “Conversations LIVE!” with Cyrus Webb. 

February 8: Julie will discuss her adoption journey on DNAngels Lost and Found: No More Secrets Podcast.

February 13, 2025, Julie will be a return guest to Thriving Adoptees podcast with host Simon Benn. They will discuss Julie’s forthcoming memoir, Twice the Family.

March 14-16, 2025, Julie will attend the Tucson Festival of Books. You can find her in the Adoptee Authors booth where she will be signing her books.

March 21, 2025, Julie will be signing and selling books to benefit the Longboat Key Library at J McLaughlin’s on Longboat Key. Come out and show your support at this popular “Sip ‘n Shop” event.

March 26-29, 2025, Julie will be at AWP Conference and Bookfair in LA where she will greet readers and sign books at the Muse Literary booth. Hope to see you there!

Follow Julie by visiting her website, subscribe to her bimonthly newsletters, and listen to previous podcast recordings where she discusses topics like adoption, identity, and belonging.

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