2.Sep.2026, Wednesday
Another windy day, but we were able to go in and out exploring when the wind died down. Unfortunately my something (performis?) was totally cranky, so I didn’t do a whole lot. We did go out for at least one ride to explore.
My favorite photo is from Scott who did go out this morning for a sunrise dance concert.
3.Sep.2026, Thursday
I did my morning Temple shift today and it really was a remarkable space. It was surprisingly cold and though I had dressed for it, I was colder and colder. I walked and walked, read the notices, marveling at the grief and love that went hand in hand. The messages were so touching, often poignant about loss, forgiveness, determination to continue with life and leave regrets behind.
Some pieces had clearly been prepared in anticipation of putting them up in a display exploring the emotions or the person or animal lost (dogs, cats, horses, bearded dragon, lizard). Others were written on the fly with people parking with a sharpie and writing and writing on the wall.
I was getting really cold and not sure what to do. I turned to one of the outer gates just in time for Rick to walk in and hand me a warm pancake that he’d just gotten and his vest. Unbelievable. I warmed up inside and out. Later Kellie told me that she and Lauren had walked around the temple for 30 minutes trying to find me and never did. The randomness of the perfect thing happening was a staple of the Burn. This one was amazing to me. I looked out the gate to try to see the pancake makers right after Rick found me and they’d already gone.
Later, Rick and I left at the same time. He’d taken the rest of my shift time to meditate and as we left, the dust storm was approaching a white out. I had to walk my bike, I couldn’t make any progress, Rick was able to move much more easily, but he stopped with me since within a few feet, I couldn’t see him anymore. I’d wanted to see the Titanic so we made our way there and then hid out hoping the wind would die down. Nope. We chatted with a few Israelis (there are a lot here and evidently have a cool Burn in Israel too). We all gave up and then moved out into the white out. We did make it back to camp and promptly parked ourselves and recovered, getting something to eat.
We did venture out one more time to the playa and explored more art, before being driven home by the wind/sand. Well, I was driven home, others stayed out longer. Thus I got to rest the back and get quiet reading 🙂
