VOTE BANANA II
Burning man PART DEUX!!!! Remember, NSFW.
NOTE: this is part 2. If you haven't read part 1, go here:
http://inclementine.livejournal.com/316661.html
I will take this brief interlude to mention how wonderful the weather was this year. Because of the rain that held us up in line on the way in, we basically had almost four full days without a significant dust storm. I struggled a lot less this year, partly due to the conditions being so much easier to handle. Every day without dust storms was like a present just for me!
The man looks out over his garden.
This bike basket was a fantastic Ian idea. It made life a bazillion times easier this year. I am a girl who likes to travel with her stuff.
Ian the dragon slayer.
I saw these paper-mache flowers were moved to the temple before it burned. In the background, MAL-MART!
The daytime garden.
This installation was fascinating.
This was the most delightful thing to see. There was a weigh limit of 150 pounds that morning, so I couldn't get in line, but it looked like so much fun.
Wheee!
This girl was digging on her wings. After this picture she spun in a circle for me until she fell down. The morning time is a good time to meet kids who haven't slept yet.
Rooster car. How this car was modified to hold that giant structure and the 20 people that hung off of it every night, I will never know, but I find it deeply impressive.
What it looked like at night:
Dragon car extravaganza!
Ride the dragon?
Like the Oscar Meyer Wiener bus only weirder.
Burners will eventually take over the world. Like cockroaches.
Absolutely beautiful double art bus.
Think these were made out of 2 liter pop bottles.
This monolithic lady was definitely a favorite sculpture this year. She danced the burn away with everyone who came to visit.
These people in the scissor lift boat/car were completely insane, but what a view they must have had!
Balloons!
This is Mike. He's a photographer. He's pretty cool.
More garden.
She's got the whole world, to her left.
Beautiful tree stand.
Tree pose on beautiful tree stand.
Look familiar?
Our friendly neighborhood pirate ship. These dudes built most of this after pulling into camp on Monday. It was pretty crazy.
Babies at Burning Man.
This is very sweet, but bringing a 4 week old infant out into the desert seems like the worst idea ever.
How about some naked Acro Yoga? Honestly, there were a lot of nakedness among the people doing Acro, but most of it belonged to topless women. This guy was all "here's my penis, now I will fly like an eagle."
This is my new friend Boris. He is a barrel of laughs. He is a Russian gymnast.
Me flying Diane, the awesomest of awesome ladies. This is straddlebat to bird.
This is another Acro friend named Pinko. Her face made me happy.
wheeee!
creepyface dude was nice.
This girl is a Freedom Community cheerleader.
rah rah, sis boom cult!
I flew this painted woman. Pretty.
Yikes. Stay classy, dude. sorry, but I love a good trainwreck.
After I flew this woman, she brought over a gaggle of very topless middle aged woman to fly as well.
When you're in trouble, call the naked Black Rock City Ranger!
I ran into a previously scheduled monkey chant at the end of Acro one day. It sounded like this only much less organized:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkxuPxdsZ58
You can also find video of other Burning Man monkey chants over the years on youtube if you google properly.
It was a singular experience that I highly recommend if you ever have a chance to participate in one. There is something extremely comforting about being a human surrounded by other humans all engaging in the same activity. That must be why the electric slide is so popular.
One of the most beautiful children I've ever seen was sitting behind me.
Too loud for little ears.
Sometimes I wonder if people get bored of their tattoos. I liked these, I'm just saying.
Smurfette!
I <3 jellyfish car.
When I asked this dude why he was in a leotard tied to a shopping cart full of ice, he said "It's a long story."
Claire and Jazz brought me to a BRC post office for the first time. They take bribes, these men in the form of hugs.
One of the reasons Claire is so much fun to hang out with is that everybody loves her. This drunk girl decided that she needed Claire's boobies in her face.
On the way home from the post office, we ran into the Duck Pond's slip and slide. Claire immediately disrobed and ran like a 15th century Grecian Olympian.
She was the best slip and slider I have ever seen. There was a lady with a spray bottle moistening the people about to slip and slide, and as Claire slid away from us she said in an awe filled tone, "She's like a swan..."
Even I can't get enough of her love.
Even giant topless trans women love Claire.
Burning Man party games!
This is the view from the top of the Shady Asylum Camp's RV. It was a beautiful spot we had.
Here you can see the masts on the pirate ship.
Friday night was the first real dust-stormy weather and Erica and Joe got caught out by the lady sculpture and had to make their way back through the chaos.
Jessica too!
The morning of the man burn, people doing some sunrise yoga on the playa.
One of the many kinds of random things you run into at Burning Man, whatever the time of day. I have no idea what was happening here, but it looks like some sort of awkward fashion shoot.
The Cubetron? They put people in the box and shake them. I have only a vague idea of what's on the inside, but I never feel the need to see it for myself. The sign is priceless.
I told my parents I would try and stand in front of the live feed cameras this year and wave for a half hour and hope that they'd get to see me. The person running the camera evidently never focused on the entrance to center camp where I was, but I waved at a lot of strangers at least.
This dude was very drunk and very sunburned. I gave him water and hugs. Isn't that all we really need?
Faaabulous
Some hippies sleep where they fall in center camp.
This was the cutest one! All conked out in his puppy coat with a broken light saber.
I had extremely good luck this year in the people I met and talked to. Last year I had a lot of forceful "here's the way you should live because it's the best way" types of people. This year I just had awesome good hearted interesting folk with whom I had marvelous conversations. This is Dusty and Owl, two straight dudes in dresses in the morning sunlight. We chatted about everything ever. Dusty is a criminal investigator in San Francisco. He had some crazy stories.
He likes the Burning Man a little bit.
They bought me a soy chai, but I spilled it.
The amount of people I witnessed doing it in public this year definitely increased. I assume just due to circumstance, not a giant upswing in public humping. This is not the actual act of coitus, but it may have escalated after I passed. Is the middle of the road really the best place, kids?
The coffee guy.
Mermaid ship with lotus hands. Many of the art cars this year were nautically themed/boat shaped. It was actually really cool.
This is Token. I can't find him on the internets, but I'd like to. We had a lot of fun playing. He's like a rollercoaster ride. You have to fly him to believe him.
Pictures of some more of my flyers.
Funny story. The man in the background of this photo did yoga every day in center camp near the Acro folk. His practice was AMAZING. He was nice enough but kind of aloof. One day when I was flying Claire, I realized that I was exhausted and not a very good base for her, so I asked him if he'd fly her for a while. He said "Actually, I'm tripping on acid right now, but I can fly her if you'd like. Where is she?" I politely declined his offer on Claire's behalf.
Some sort of team acrobatics.
Wonderful. Sort of reminds me of the episode of Reading Rainbow where Jordy Laforge does a group dance number about being a fireman and using teamwork. I don't really know why.
One of the nice thing about hanging out with generally fun uninhibited people is that sometimes randomly you will get to walk around on a circle of dudes shoulders. The back of the line kept becoming the front of the line and so on. I love hippies.
My favorite Acro yoga kids, Paul and Diane again. As soon as I've finished posting this, I'm going to email them with a link to it and express my undying love for them.
A bigger portion of the daily play group.
I was super impressed by this guy until he told me that he only arrived that day (Saturday morning, the burn day.) What a giant pink naked tourist! I kid, but seriously, it boggles my mind that some people come to BM for 2 days?
Taken while biking: While I thought this was cool, part of me is like "Did he just wear his halloween costume?" There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose. I dunno!
This man had his two kids in front of him on a zebra car. Super cute! Helmets?
Bat wings!
I don't know what this is, but it wants me to hug it.
Giant teeter totter with sign that says "You must be this topless to ride"
Yeeeehaw!
Heading out to the burning of the man. I obviously felt much more comfortable in my own skin this year, figuratively and literally.
Claire was the only one to capture this outfit in all it's stripey butt glory. As previously discussed on Facebook, she took the picture, then turned and showed it to Ian and said "That, belongs to you." then they high-fived.
Claire also took this of Ian and I at the man burn. Me doing what I do and Ian doing what he do too.
Mushroom art car at the burn.
Chicken in a top hat car?
The Man hisself!
The waiting crowd.
The waiting crowd exposed by flame throwers!
Fire conclave had a flamey tuba this year! The flames got bigger as it was played.
Have I mentioned how much I like my new lens? So glad I went with the 2.8.
Camo and Jazz's fire spinning group. So cool!
Jazz and her fans.
Hard to see because we were far away, but this was Eddie on huge stilts swinging fire ropes. These guys are completely insane.
Pre-burn fireworks!
He burns!
He has fallen and we celebrate his destruction.
After that, everything went to hell in a handbasket.
Sunrise on Sunday after the burn from the top of the RV again. Beauuuutiful. Also cold. I was trying to not wake up the kids in the RV so I didn't want to get down and find a sweater while I waited for the sun to rise, so there was a lot of shivering.
Peekaboo. Sunrise over the deathstar.
This was a bike ramp that had been set on fire. Dudes stood around it, one with a megaphone taunting bike riders into death defying acts.
Some of them went for it!
These pirates sat around and watched approvingly.
Pretty man hair in the morning light. He was all like "the sun is hurting my eyes!" and I was all like "but it's so attractive!"
Fun story! So these kids are actually not only from Minnesota, but from the Seward neighborhood. Some months back I saw this astroturf van with port holes on the side of the street and almost crashed into the car in front of me at the upcoming stop sign. I enjoyed telling them about this and they invited us to party with them and other burners and cool kids. We have yet to take them up on it but I'm sure we will.
I stopped these people and talked to them because I had to ask this girl if her outfit was a modified pair of disco pants, and it was! Facebook has been taunting me with advertisements for disco pants for the last year, and even though I have yet to buy them for Ian, he can expect them before 12 calendar months has passed.
http://betabrand.com/betapants/discopants.html
This girl is lovely. She is a couchsurfer as well, and we are now facebook friends.
She demanded that I allow her to take a picture of me. I objected because they were in interesting outfits and I was in my jammies, but the picture was taken, nonetheless. That is not my booze bottle, fyi.
The aftermath of the man, still smoking and steaming in the cool morning air.
This was Ian's favorite fire spinner from the man burn. Her troop was right in front of us. I randomly found her on my way into center camp and told her she had a fan. :)
Good morning here's the news, and all of it is good.
Strange and serious man child.
I couldn't ever imagine having this level of creativity mixed with skill and organization.
Same with this!
Remember kids, in November:
More wall art around center camp:
MOAR artcars.
Narwhall!
Last day of Acro.
This was another one of my flyers. She had been up all night taking psychedelic drugs, and had ended up at the man burn naked, so someone went and fetched her some footy pajamas. Her story of the evening was quite harrowing, so I asked her why she wanted to do things like that if they so rarely end up being enjoyable experiences. She told me that she doesn't learn anything about herself from doing things that are fun, she learns things about herself from doing things that are fucked up and difficult. While there is some truth to that I think, it's really not a true statement. I'm hopeful that some day when she gets older she'll figure that shit out. Usually people do, right? Fun chick though.
Also lovely flyers, Gina and Janelle, twin sisters who both do wig design for different productions of Jersey Boys. I met Janelle at center camp Sunday morning and fed her some dried apples and we talked about a whole list of things. I gave her a necklace that I made as well, and now we are facebook friends and she's going to come visit when the show comes through Minneapolis. For this kind of thing alone, I am grateful to Burning Man. The world becomes smaller and more loving and connected and I get to meet awesome new friends.
This dude was crazy cool. After I asked to take his picture, a random bystander asked if the tattoo on his penis had hurt and his answer was "What do you think?"
Under the hat he is completely bald and looks very alien and interesting.
That night was the temple burn. Here's the previously photographed dragon art car in full night lighting.
The lady at night. Absolutely breathtaking.
Her lights were on a slow color changing cycle.
The temple burn was interesting for me. I was afraid of it for days because every time I approached the temple I struggled internally with Lucy's death. I wrote her a note and left it in the temple which was a very painful experience. I assumed that the temple burn would be even harder, but it wasn't. It was quieter inside than my day time visits.
Then we went home. All in all, it was a marvelous experience, so much better and easier for me than last year. Much of that obviously had to do with the hours of Acro Yoga every day, but also our lovely camp mates and for that I am forever grateful. Over the span of the week I figured out that having more people around meant that when I was unhappy I didn't just look at Ian and feel like it was his fault. I had multiple things/people to focus attention on and also more reason to not act like a jerk because it would be public and thus more shameful than when I am a jerk in private. Ian is the sweetest boy a girl could ever hope for and his love and partnership in this journey of life and all of its experiences is something I never knew that I could have, much less would have.
Hope you all are well. Some big changes are happening in my world and I am going to try to make them as positive as possible. I look forward to seeing you when I see you and talking to you when I can't. I feel extremely blessed to be alive on this planet at the same time as the rest of you, because in the entire span of the universe, this is a really short window, and for now, we're all in it together and that's pretty cool by me. Come with us next year?
Love love love
-E
NOTE: this is part 2. If you haven't read part 1, go here:
http://inclementine.livejournal.com/316661.html
I will take this brief interlude to mention how wonderful the weather was this year. Because of the rain that held us up in line on the way in, we basically had almost four full days without a significant dust storm. I struggled a lot less this year, partly due to the conditions being so much easier to handle. Every day without dust storms was like a present just for me!
The man looks out over his garden.
This bike basket was a fantastic Ian idea. It made life a bazillion times easier this year. I am a girl who likes to travel with her stuff.
Ian the dragon slayer.
I saw these paper-mache flowers were moved to the temple before it burned. In the background, MAL-MART!
The daytime garden.
This installation was fascinating.
This was the most delightful thing to see. There was a weigh limit of 150 pounds that morning, so I couldn't get in line, but it looked like so much fun.
Wheee!
This girl was digging on her wings. After this picture she spun in a circle for me until she fell down. The morning time is a good time to meet kids who haven't slept yet.
Rooster car. How this car was modified to hold that giant structure and the 20 people that hung off of it every night, I will never know, but I find it deeply impressive.
What it looked like at night:
Dragon car extravaganza!
Ride the dragon?
Like the Oscar Meyer Wiener bus only weirder.
Burners will eventually take over the world. Like cockroaches.
Absolutely beautiful double art bus.
Think these were made out of 2 liter pop bottles.
This monolithic lady was definitely a favorite sculpture this year. She danced the burn away with everyone who came to visit.
These people in the scissor lift boat/car were completely insane, but what a view they must have had!
Balloons!
This is Mike. He's a photographer. He's pretty cool.
More garden.
She's got the whole world, to her left.
Beautiful tree stand.
Tree pose on beautiful tree stand.
Look familiar?
Our friendly neighborhood pirate ship. These dudes built most of this after pulling into camp on Monday. It was pretty crazy.
Babies at Burning Man.
This is very sweet, but bringing a 4 week old infant out into the desert seems like the worst idea ever.
How about some naked Acro Yoga? Honestly, there were a lot of nakedness among the people doing Acro, but most of it belonged to topless women. This guy was all "here's my penis, now I will fly like an eagle."
This is my new friend Boris. He is a barrel of laughs. He is a Russian gymnast.
Me flying Diane, the awesomest of awesome ladies. This is straddlebat to bird.
This is another Acro friend named Pinko. Her face made me happy.
wheeee!
creepyface dude was nice.
This girl is a Freedom Community cheerleader.
rah rah, sis boom cult!
I flew this painted woman. Pretty.
Yikes. Stay classy, dude. sorry, but I love a good trainwreck.
After I flew this woman, she brought over a gaggle of very topless middle aged woman to fly as well.
When you're in trouble, call the naked Black Rock City Ranger!
I ran into a previously scheduled monkey chant at the end of Acro one day. It sounded like this only much less organized:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkxuPxdsZ58
You can also find video of other Burning Man monkey chants over the years on youtube if you google properly.
It was a singular experience that I highly recommend if you ever have a chance to participate in one. There is something extremely comforting about being a human surrounded by other humans all engaging in the same activity. That must be why the electric slide is so popular.
One of the most beautiful children I've ever seen was sitting behind me.
Too loud for little ears.
Sometimes I wonder if people get bored of their tattoos. I liked these, I'm just saying.
Smurfette!
I <3 jellyfish car.
When I asked this dude why he was in a leotard tied to a shopping cart full of ice, he said "It's a long story."
Claire and Jazz brought me to a BRC post office for the first time. They take bribes, these men in the form of hugs.
One of the reasons Claire is so much fun to hang out with is that everybody loves her. This drunk girl decided that she needed Claire's boobies in her face.
On the way home from the post office, we ran into the Duck Pond's slip and slide. Claire immediately disrobed and ran like a 15th century Grecian Olympian.
She was the best slip and slider I have ever seen. There was a lady with a spray bottle moistening the people about to slip and slide, and as Claire slid away from us she said in an awe filled tone, "She's like a swan..."
Even I can't get enough of her love.
Even giant topless trans women love Claire.
Burning Man party games!
This is the view from the top of the Shady Asylum Camp's RV. It was a beautiful spot we had.
Here you can see the masts on the pirate ship.
Friday night was the first real dust-stormy weather and Erica and Joe got caught out by the lady sculpture and had to make their way back through the chaos.
Jessica too!
The morning of the man burn, people doing some sunrise yoga on the playa.
One of the many kinds of random things you run into at Burning Man, whatever the time of day. I have no idea what was happening here, but it looks like some sort of awkward fashion shoot.
The Cubetron? They put people in the box and shake them. I have only a vague idea of what's on the inside, but I never feel the need to see it for myself. The sign is priceless.
I told my parents I would try and stand in front of the live feed cameras this year and wave for a half hour and hope that they'd get to see me. The person running the camera evidently never focused on the entrance to center camp where I was, but I waved at a lot of strangers at least.
This dude was very drunk and very sunburned. I gave him water and hugs. Isn't that all we really need?
Faaabulous
Some hippies sleep where they fall in center camp.
This was the cutest one! All conked out in his puppy coat with a broken light saber.
I had extremely good luck this year in the people I met and talked to. Last year I had a lot of forceful "here's the way you should live because it's the best way" types of people. This year I just had awesome good hearted interesting folk with whom I had marvelous conversations. This is Dusty and Owl, two straight dudes in dresses in the morning sunlight. We chatted about everything ever. Dusty is a criminal investigator in San Francisco. He had some crazy stories.
He likes the Burning Man a little bit.
They bought me a soy chai, but I spilled it.
The amount of people I witnessed doing it in public this year definitely increased. I assume just due to circumstance, not a giant upswing in public humping. This is not the actual act of coitus, but it may have escalated after I passed. Is the middle of the road really the best place, kids?
The coffee guy.
Mermaid ship with lotus hands. Many of the art cars this year were nautically themed/boat shaped. It was actually really cool.
This is Token. I can't find him on the internets, but I'd like to. We had a lot of fun playing. He's like a rollercoaster ride. You have to fly him to believe him.
Pictures of some more of my flyers.
Funny story. The man in the background of this photo did yoga every day in center camp near the Acro folk. His practice was AMAZING. He was nice enough but kind of aloof. One day when I was flying Claire, I realized that I was exhausted and not a very good base for her, so I asked him if he'd fly her for a while. He said "Actually, I'm tripping on acid right now, but I can fly her if you'd like. Where is she?" I politely declined his offer on Claire's behalf.
Some sort of team acrobatics.
Wonderful. Sort of reminds me of the episode of Reading Rainbow where Jordy Laforge does a group dance number about being a fireman and using teamwork. I don't really know why.
Click to viewOne of the nice thing about hanging out with generally fun uninhibited people is that sometimes randomly you will get to walk around on a circle of dudes shoulders. The back of the line kept becoming the front of the line and so on. I love hippies.
My favorite Acro yoga kids, Paul and Diane again. As soon as I've finished posting this, I'm going to email them with a link to it and express my undying love for them.
A bigger portion of the daily play group.
I was super impressed by this guy until he told me that he only arrived that day (Saturday morning, the burn day.) What a giant pink naked tourist! I kid, but seriously, it boggles my mind that some people come to BM for 2 days?
Taken while biking: While I thought this was cool, part of me is like "Did he just wear his halloween costume?" There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose. I dunno!
This man had his two kids in front of him on a zebra car. Super cute! Helmets?
Bat wings!
I don't know what this is, but it wants me to hug it.
Giant teeter totter with sign that says "You must be this topless to ride"
Yeeeehaw!
Heading out to the burning of the man. I obviously felt much more comfortable in my own skin this year, figuratively and literally.
Claire was the only one to capture this outfit in all it's stripey butt glory. As previously discussed on Facebook, she took the picture, then turned and showed it to Ian and said "That, belongs to you." then they high-fived.
Claire also took this of Ian and I at the man burn. Me doing what I do and Ian doing what he do too.
Mushroom art car at the burn.
Chicken in a top hat car?
The Man hisself!
The waiting crowd.
The waiting crowd exposed by flame throwers!
Fire conclave had a flamey tuba this year! The flames got bigger as it was played.
Have I mentioned how much I like my new lens? So glad I went with the 2.8.
Camo and Jazz's fire spinning group. So cool!
Jazz and her fans.
Hard to see because we were far away, but this was Eddie on huge stilts swinging fire ropes. These guys are completely insane.
Pre-burn fireworks!
He burns!
He has fallen and we celebrate his destruction.
After that, everything went to hell in a handbasket.
Sunrise on Sunday after the burn from the top of the RV again. Beauuuutiful. Also cold. I was trying to not wake up the kids in the RV so I didn't want to get down and find a sweater while I waited for the sun to rise, so there was a lot of shivering.
Peekaboo. Sunrise over the deathstar.
This was a bike ramp that had been set on fire. Dudes stood around it, one with a megaphone taunting bike riders into death defying acts.
Some of them went for it!
These pirates sat around and watched approvingly.
Pretty man hair in the morning light. He was all like "the sun is hurting my eyes!" and I was all like "but it's so attractive!"
Fun story! So these kids are actually not only from Minnesota, but from the Seward neighborhood. Some months back I saw this astroturf van with port holes on the side of the street and almost crashed into the car in front of me at the upcoming stop sign. I enjoyed telling them about this and they invited us to party with them and other burners and cool kids. We have yet to take them up on it but I'm sure we will.
I stopped these people and talked to them because I had to ask this girl if her outfit was a modified pair of disco pants, and it was! Facebook has been taunting me with advertisements for disco pants for the last year, and even though I have yet to buy them for Ian, he can expect them before 12 calendar months has passed.
http://betabrand.com/betapants/discopants.html
This girl is lovely. She is a couchsurfer as well, and we are now facebook friends.
She demanded that I allow her to take a picture of me. I objected because they were in interesting outfits and I was in my jammies, but the picture was taken, nonetheless. That is not my booze bottle, fyi.
The aftermath of the man, still smoking and steaming in the cool morning air.
This was Ian's favorite fire spinner from the man burn. Her troop was right in front of us. I randomly found her on my way into center camp and told her she had a fan. :)
Good morning here's the news, and all of it is good.
Strange and serious man child.
I couldn't ever imagine having this level of creativity mixed with skill and organization.
Same with this!
Remember kids, in November:
More wall art around center camp:
MOAR artcars.
Narwhall!
Last day of Acro.
This was another one of my flyers. She had been up all night taking psychedelic drugs, and had ended up at the man burn naked, so someone went and fetched her some footy pajamas. Her story of the evening was quite harrowing, so I asked her why she wanted to do things like that if they so rarely end up being enjoyable experiences. She told me that she doesn't learn anything about herself from doing things that are fun, she learns things about herself from doing things that are fucked up and difficult. While there is some truth to that I think, it's really not a true statement. I'm hopeful that some day when she gets older she'll figure that shit out. Usually people do, right? Fun chick though.
Also lovely flyers, Gina and Janelle, twin sisters who both do wig design for different productions of Jersey Boys. I met Janelle at center camp Sunday morning and fed her some dried apples and we talked about a whole list of things. I gave her a necklace that I made as well, and now we are facebook friends and she's going to come visit when the show comes through Minneapolis. For this kind of thing alone, I am grateful to Burning Man. The world becomes smaller and more loving and connected and I get to meet awesome new friends.
This dude was crazy cool. After I asked to take his picture, a random bystander asked if the tattoo on his penis had hurt and his answer was "What do you think?"
Under the hat he is completely bald and looks very alien and interesting.
That night was the temple burn. Here's the previously photographed dragon art car in full night lighting.
The lady at night. Absolutely breathtaking.
Her lights were on a slow color changing cycle.
The temple burn was interesting for me. I was afraid of it for days because every time I approached the temple I struggled internally with Lucy's death. I wrote her a note and left it in the temple which was a very painful experience. I assumed that the temple burn would be even harder, but it wasn't. It was quieter inside than my day time visits.
Then we went home. All in all, it was a marvelous experience, so much better and easier for me than last year. Much of that obviously had to do with the hours of Acro Yoga every day, but also our lovely camp mates and for that I am forever grateful. Over the span of the week I figured out that having more people around meant that when I was unhappy I didn't just look at Ian and feel like it was his fault. I had multiple things/people to focus attention on and also more reason to not act like a jerk because it would be public and thus more shameful than when I am a jerk in private. Ian is the sweetest boy a girl could ever hope for and his love and partnership in this journey of life and all of its experiences is something I never knew that I could have, much less would have.
Hope you all are well. Some big changes are happening in my world and I am going to try to make them as positive as possible. I look forward to seeing you when I see you and talking to you when I can't. I feel extremely blessed to be alive on this planet at the same time as the rest of you, because in the entire span of the universe, this is a really short window, and for now, we're all in it together and that's pretty cool by me. Come with us next year?
Love love love
-E