Then one day she was driving to work when she heard an interview with a writer who was on a speaking engagement at Western. She spoke of going for a walk, a long walk. She spoke of the Camino, a pilgrimage taken by hundreds of thousands of people. It was in Europe starting in France or Portugal —all ending up at Santiago de Compostelo in Spain. She read the speaker's book that said "The walk would teach important lessons of life, things such as simplicity, compassion, courage, discipline, awareness and love. It would be about a woman confronting her biggest fears." Judite told me the walk is a discipline, being fearless, making choices of self-awareness, of being productive and focused. The Walk slows your life down to 4 kilometres an hour, with everything they need on their back. She knew she would like to try, but when. Then one day it became clear to her. This was what she had to do. She would walk her journey of self discovery. And she chose the date —Judite would be on the Camino on May 28th, the day Bruno would have been 30 years old. She would do this walk for Bruno, for Claudia and for her two granddaughters. 

And then she began her journey walking 225 kms over 11 days. Early on she discovered she could no longer walk in her boots and her feet had blistered very badly. She had mountains to climb, goat trails to deal with, and it was hugely challenging. She had a cold deep in her chest and she had shortness of breath; and more blisters. At one point she did not think she could carry on, but thought about her mother and asked her to give her the strength to continue. That gave her an inner strength to carry on, to put one step in front of the other. Even baby steps mattered. 

On the Camino she ultimately found herself thinking more of Claudia and her granddaughters. She was thinking more about the good things than the bad. What she discovered were life lessons she learned on the Camino. Things like Sisterhood, Patience, Simplicity, Gratitude, Acceptance, Tranquility. Now she has turned her experience into an opportunity to share her story with other women. She has spoken to groups at the Chamber of Commerce, the Highland Golf & Country Club and the Lamplighter Best Western. She asks who has suffered loss; who has felt despair so deep that they feel there is no hope. She feels strongly that you can make your life better, that you have a choice. In her inspiring talks, she leaves people feeling that no matter how bad things are, you have a choice. She made the choice to funnel her grief, her fears and heartache to continue to build a legacy, a successful business empire to leave to her daughter and granddaughters as a tribute to Bruno. 

A quote from Judite: "WHERE EVER YOU HAVE COME FROM OR WHERE EVER YOU ARE TODAY. I AM HERE TO TELL YOU, HAVING DROPPED TO THE DEPTHS OF HELL AND LOOKED IN THE FACE OF MY DEEPEST SORROWS THAT I HAVE RETURNED STRONGER, MORE DETERMINED, BETTER ABLE TO COPE WITH THE CHALLENGES IN BUSINESS AND IN LIFE. THAT SUFFERING HAS ALLOWED ME TO STAND IN FRONT OF YOU AND CHALLENGE YOU TO FIND YOUR CAMINO."