In a nut shell...

[Scoopy]

Well, looks like I'm the first to post a 2013 story!? It'll be short...otherwise it will be a book!

2013 was my first year at BRC. I went with my partner and a group of 12 friends. We all camped at the lovely Devachan camp. In a nut shell, our experience was as follows:

Late Wednesday night after an intense day of wonder, wander, dance, struggle, and everything in between, my partner turned to me in our tent and said, "I don't think I can do this anymore."

"What!? Why!?" I responded in the not most compassionate way. As we worked so hard to make it here, I was a bit miffed at her seemingly complete dismissal of the experience.

"I just don't think I can physically or even mentally do it anymore!" she replied.

I could tell she was struggling, but now I could feel a struggle too. A struggle to actually have to break camp in the morning, tell our friends, our family, that we're leaving, only half way through BurningMan, after all we've done to get here, to make it happen. What just happened!?

I didn't really sleep that night, yet was awoken by my soul brother telling me to get ready for a sunrise dance party out near the Temple. "I'm not going." I said. Still dismayed and grumpy about what I thought my morning would entail. "What are you talking about 'you're not goin'? Get up, get dressed. Everyone's ready to go except you. Come on." he said sternly with a flitter of laughter. I looked around to see who he meant by everybody, and indeed I saw my partner, looking beautiful in white, already on her bike ready to head out to deep playa.

A tad confused, but enchanted by the sight of my friends quietly gathering in the predawn glow of grey, I shook the sleepiness from my mind and limbs. Scrambled to dress, slurp a coffee, eat some fruit, gather water, etc... Was I still asleep dreaming? Has this entire experience, these past 4 days, been a dream?

Slowly riding out towards the Temple in a wash of subtle sensations...friends drifting by on their bicycles, frocks flowing around the wind. A momentum shift was happening. I still wasn't convinced I wasn't dreaming, even though I could feel the air cool the wetness within my eyes. A waking dream!?

My partner was now determined to make her last moment of BurningMan be one she would always remember. Why? I wondered. What had happened during those brief hours of sleep?

Dozens and dozens of us begin gathering on the outskirts of the Temple. Soon, hundreds. We're all mostly wandering around one another, smiling, hugging, staring, breathing... nothing particular is going on. No music. No dancing. What IS happening is connection. Connecting with complete strangers, ourselves, friends, family, loved ones...we're all simply connecting. A dream come true.

An hour later the music starts, the dancing doesn't stop, and the Earth has turned enough for us to witness the Sun break the horizon.

4 hours later, my partner turns to me under the shade of some sensually colored cloth and says, "I don't ever want to leave."

[Sic Pup]

Very nice, compelling and totally captures the essence. Thanks for sharing.