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Burning (Wo)man

This morning I discovered something called the Burning Man Festival. It happens every year at the end of summer in the middle of the desert and it seems to be the ultimate act of freedom. It’s where people can be free to experience their own art for no real egotistical purposes - just a momentary burst of magic. I get it. I want to be part of it but it’s so far away from my own form of existence. It’s like it would take a huge leap to form that movement into that world. The dust. I’m not sure I could handle it. The wind. The heat. 


But then the music. The people. The memories. That would override the sense of survival for me. It’s like you have to work hard to experience the ethereal. It doesn’t come to you. You have to work hard for your own sense of freedom. I would have to try really hard. And trying that hard is always not what I need. Or do you just let go of everything around you? Can you just let everything go and be? 

Our world of control and confetti means that it’s hard to find the glitter amongst the orderly. It’s hard to find the magic within the structure. I can’t let go that easily. I have to be grounded to bring up my babies. I need to be calm and happy. How do I be calm and happy? Cook, make love, drink, cuddle cats, read, write, garden, move in nature. I would rather wake up looking out to an Italian Lake with an espresso than wake up in a dry dusty bowl from a trip. But that’s just me.


My burning (wo)man festival will be miniature this year and it will come in the form of watching my garden slowly fold down into autumn. It will come in finishing a book from my stack of novels in my craft room; the stack that I’ve moved from my library into their and it will change seasonally. It will come from publishing this post online and feeling like a new season is coming. 


But hold on, Indian summer is coming - we have one more burst of sunshine before we can all snuggle more.


Overall discovery: I think I’d rather have a bbq in my garden with a gin.


There’s something about the feeling when you know you’re exactly where you need to be.

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