The Skeleton I Found at Burning Man

I am so sorry to hear about your father’s passing. This was a beautifully written piece. Thank you!

BeingCharis

I attended Burning Man for the first time in 2016. It was the best thing that could have happened for me at that point in my life. I left feeling invigorated and revived, having reclaimed permission to love my broken self again.

I thought Burning Man had given me a new lease on life, but it had actually prepared me to deal with my dad’s sudden death. It was a blessing disguised by what had initially been a more exciting package.

Every burn is different. For me, 2016 was life-giving even in the face of my father’s death. So when I returned to the default world after the event, Black Rock City remained a beacon of hope. It had been my last hurrah before shit hit the fan, like my innocence had been left there.

I spent the next year slogging through continued trauma and unraveling stability. In many ways…

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Dancing in the rain

The sky is gloriously murky and grey today.  I absolutely have a love-hate relationship with stormy weather.  You see, I have fibromyalgia and systemic lupus and any major change in the weather seems to cause significant changes in the way my body interprets pain….as in, “Hey! I have joints and muscles and they’re all going to hurt at once for no good reason.” That’s the hate portion of my relationship with the weather but I refuse to dwell on this as the love side of the relationship is so beautiful.  Look around you. Look at all of the gorgeous flowers that are blooming and trees that are turning green in celebration of Spring. They need rain to be beautiful…their beauty brings me peace and happiness…therefore I appreciate the rain.  I also just planted tomato and pepper plants this week that I lovingly coaxed  from seeds several weeks ago.  They are bending under the assault of the rain but as soon as the sun pokes its head out from behind the clouds, they’ll stretch out and grow inches tonight (or so it will seem).  So today I will choose to be appreciative of the rain that God has given to us and I will choose to not dwell on how my physical body feels.  Besides it’ll all be worth it in the end when I’m munching down on some fresh veggies.   Right?  Yum!