Burning Man is EPIC!
If you ask most people where I live about Burning Man they will respond back and say “Burning Who?” That was about my response the first time I heard of it too. I was talking to my daughter one day and she mentioned to me that she went to this event called “Burning Man.”
I was really intrigued and wanted to know more so I asked a ton of questions. She covered most of them and finally she said, “Look dad, you do not know until you go.” Those words stuck in my head and I decided, I need to go! My daughter said tickets would be hard to get and she would try to put her name in the lottery pool. She said she knew the forces of the universe would somehow pull it together. With that, I went back to the grind of daily life. Sure enough, I got call that she put a posting on Facebook and someone she knows, Mr. Steve T. could not go and he would sell her his tickets. What great news! (And a SPECIAL THANKS to Mr. Steve T. for making this happen, I could not thank you enough.) We are going! It’s time to book flight, I watch clips on You Tube but really they do not do justice, it’s just not the same as hands on.
So finally, we are on the road. The journey is long and a lot of hours behind the wheel. Sometimes it feels like you’re never going to get there. A lot of stops for gas, restroom, narrow roads and slow moving. I became inpatient. Ants in my pants. The car was cramped and there was no room to move. I even had an outburst with my beautiful daughter. We had it out but I believe it was just the ride and nothing else.
We arrive at the gates around 2am. There is long wait, a lot of people just excited to be there. Humpy, bumpy road…dust, dust, dust…we arrive inside after check point and wait for the rest of our group to get there and finally, we find our camp and start setting up. By now its 5:30am and it’s the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen. This was the first sunrise for me for 23 years. Where I live, we have sunsets at the beach, not sunrises. By now everyone is helping each other to set up and, like a team of ants, we work and it get it done. We were all tired. I was dead from driving almost all day and night. After some rest we all got on our bikes at nightfall and ventured on the Playa. WOW, it was out of this world! So many colors, neon, lasers, I was blown away by all of it. It was like Thanksgiving, Xmas, Halloween, Valentines Day, the 4th of July all rolled together. Just name a holiday and it was there!
When you’re out there on the Playa riding your bike, nothing maters. Not time, your bills, who you have to meet, not any of a man’s daily concerns. I became at peace with myself. I became part of the dust I was covered in, I became more close to my daughter then ever before. I felt her feelings, cried with her, held her hand, talked the night away like never before and felt the pain and suffering we both endured from a lifetime apart. It was like nothing I felt before and I am grateful for that.
To all the parents out there wondering what your kids doing, where they are…call them, hang out with them, feel what they feel and you will see a totally different world. After all it is their time to shine and glow and show the world who they are. This is what Burning Man thought me.
I want to thank the BRC Nevada/Burning Man to be able have such event and to be able to spend it with my daughter and cherish that for rest of my life. Thank you for everything. This is my Burning Man story and I am sticking to it. If you want to read more “Tales from the Playa” check out the Burning Man Blog but as a beautiful young lady once told me, “You do not know until you go…” )*(