I went into this festival preparing for the worst, hoping for the best. Days before I remembered: I am going for awesome music & to see my dear friend--what fun!! And yes, indeed, this trip was one of the best, most memorable of my days.
Just the highlights:
a safe ride up with 2 filmmakers & a musician who were all really chill & totally open to have another unknown person join the car
Wegmans market crunchy peanut butter & water fill station (can we all learn from them?!)
Thousands of One: my new fav for sure.
No shoes for 4 days, swimming in the creek, & making a headpiece of chamomile flowers (my fav sandals are still in Ithaca)
Kevin Kinsella. What a phenomenal group! Danced & took some fotos & realized my world is quite small as the chicks I was with were housemates with these folks.
Lee Boys got everyone dancin like crazy!
The mud kids!
Healing Arts tent & amazing healer Reingold. I am not certain I believe all he says, but he gave me incredible insight into what an amazing art healing can be & how to get back to earth.
To the soundtrack of John Brown's Body, I made my journey to the beautiful lava wall (a screen that projected a lava-lamp type display). Travels along the way include: a small city full of glow people: darkness with dancing people wearing glow everything and spinning glowing hula hoops. A one-shot game of flip cup with a win! The base of the lava wall: a converted school bus with a stuffed wolf prepared for howling at the full moon. And, finally the lava wall that was far more beautiful from afar, partially due to the real negative attitude of the people inhabiting the wall. I returned after what seemed like a day and danced with such happiness to some enchanting music.
Watching Shane be loving with someone while dancing was one of the most beautiful moments I have witnessed in my life. Seeing him wrap his arms around his adored so gently & perfect warms my heart. She left & left him hanging onto our arms, but still, for a few moments it was pure heaven. Lying on the earth telling him how I experienced the moment was magical in itself.
*************
Being in this tranquil place, swimming in the morning, sleeping on the earth, walking for days without shoes & being surrounded with family & lightness & good tunes is what I am craving. For the first time I was not excited to come home; even seeing the Manhattan skyline didn't give me flutters like it usually does. Last night, instead of hearing guys play a guitar outside my tent I heard a gunshot & alarm bells. Somehow, the little ditch in the dirt was more comfortable than my most comfortable bed. Mud-laden feet are far more endearing than pollution-filled facial sweat. It itches at me like that little mosquito bite on your pinky toe that you try to ignore. I have finally found what I call my puzzle pieces: the people in my life that are surrounding me right now are exactly what I need & want. I feel in harmony. Do I have everything, no, but isn't that the journey of life?
The question arises: what to do, where to go? I no longer feel the desire to live amongst concrete & want to return to the earth, especially escape the winter & live on a beach, but I want to have my people with me. Do I take my puzzle pieces with me to a new beach home; do I place my puzzle on the ground, be thankful of fitting it together, swim out to the water sola & hope they are there when I return; or, do I find a place in the middle without escaping the winter & exploring the world as I want to so I can mix nature & my peeps? Happiness is best when shared, I know that. I can make friends anywhere, but I do not want to miss out on time with these people that I truly care about. Nor do I want to live my life for others as one day they too will take their own path from here. We never know what can happen at a given moment...but I know that I have true love in my heart for mankind & am truly blessed & thankful for all that I have in my life. So, for that I live right now, right here, until I get there...Thank you Grassroots for getting me back in touch with my own grassroot harmony.
see here for my pal Olivier's film. i especially love the bubble blowers:
or click here to see the film & more fotos: Love Revolution, GrassRoots Festival July 2008
I'm glad you were called to get in touch with something deeper for you. Sit with it, dance with it, sway with it... it'll come.
ReplyDeleteGood for music, paint, mud, and your photos!!!!