I am famous for saying with every death comes a birth and this held true. Upon coming off of the playa I learned of an uncle's passing. While not unexpected, it was still a sad event and sad to realize that I would not be able to make the viewing to support my aunt.
Our camp has a pretty famous motivational person in it. John "Halcyon" Styn. If you are not familiar with him doing a quick google search. "Halcyon" started Pink Heart Camp, which is where we camp at burning man. "Halcyon" has a saying...Crap or Cone (he did a Tedx talk on it that you may find on the google search). Basically you can look at any situation and determine if you want to focus on the crap or on the cone. Say your friendship with a person falls apart. You can focus on the crap: your friendship fell apart, your feelings are hurt, you are sad. Or you can focus on the cone: the friendship falling apart opened you to new experiences, to meeting new people, to new adventures and journeys.
Something that happened to us this year at BM was someone decided to use our truck tire to take a literal crap in our camp. Thankfully we discovered it & realized what it was. After I dealt with the disposal of said crap, I kept struggling trying to discover the cone side of the situation. I approached Halcyon to ask his advice. It took a bit, but he returned to tell me that the cone would be that by allowing that space for the incident to happen, we saved someone from dying of internal distress. (True story!)
Another crap or cone happened to our friend Sexy Situation. SS builds a beautiful art swing to provide a resting spot for thousands of people that pass by. You may recall I posted earlier this year about his fundraiser. The swing was a bright spot all week for thousands of people. A beacon of pink heart light that helped them find their way home. Sunday while breaking down, someone decided they needed the integral part of the swing more than SS. The box that holds the working parts & hook for the swing has disappeared. That is crap! The cone being that Sexy Situation will come back from this with a better working piece and many people will chip in to help him. Plus all the awesome stories people are sharing about the swing. And the couple that he got to meet who met and fell in love on his swing last year.
Many beautiful memories were created and shared this year. One of them being breakfast on the playa. My body cannot stop being a morning person so every morning I would assemble my breakfast and stumble out to the Esplanade couches & settle in for some nourishment & people watching. Occasionally hopping up to provide a tired, weary traveller with some Iced Cucumber Water. I was joined by so many lovely people during my morning breakfasts. Many amazing conversations were had and new things discovered. I even had the pleasure of a foot massage & pedicure by a lovely soul who stopped into our camp. Some mornings would turn into early afternoon events and thoroughly enjoyed. I felt like I was basking in a beautiful light.
For those who encountered me on playa in the evening & heard a good morning uttered from my lips. Rest assured..this has carried to the default world. I can't seem to figure out what day it is, let alone what time of the day. So why not say "Good Morning". Good Morning makes it feel like you have the whole day ahead of you and new adventures await you. :)
Monday 9.9.13Wow! to think that I wrote all of the above on Saturday & Sunday & decided to wait a day to post. And today, Monday 9.9.13 awaited me with such trauma and tragedy. I left a dr's appt with not the most hopeful news. Left with feelings of frustration, aggravation, defeat, loss and yet a small glimmer of hope. Maybe answers will lead to new paths. Upon leaving I saw I missed a call from hubby. Thought maybe he was calling to see how things were going. I was wrong...I never even uttered my news because he had news for me. A very near & dear friend, one I love as much as my burner family, had passed away in a tragic workplace accident. I have no idea how I kept my composure until the valet got my car, but I did. Than I bawled the entire ride home. I don't even know how I made it home. I am still in shock & still crying my heart out over this man that I loved dearly. Life just does not seem fair. I do not believe in prayer but am sending up thoughts of hope and positiveness that he passed without pain, without knowing what was happening to him. That his children will be able to cope with their pain, loss, tragedy & grief. I will hug them as closely & as deeply as I hug my burner family and I will tell everyone I know how much I love them & appreciate them.
How ironic that the temple this year did not bring as much sorrow to me as last years temple did. The only words I was moved to write this year was "tell those you love how important they are to you. you never know when it will be the last time".
I will truly miss my friend and the enthusiasm that he would greet me with when we would see each other. I am glad that I had an opportunity to photograph him doing the work that he loved so dearly. To honor him please check out my flickr set at Hotel Sterling Flickr Set
May you forever find peace John. You were loved & will continue to be loved by many.
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