I have been thinking all day about how to find the right words, if there even are the words available, to describe the magic I have just experienced in the last week. I'm not sure those words exist...and I'm definitely not sure that even if they do, I could mold them together well enough to do Bonnaroo justice..., but everything in me is screaming that I need to try.
The immediate events leading up to the trip I've been planning for 6 months were less than magical, to say the least. Friends worlds colliding, plans changing, people added, people dropped out, extra ticket sold, extra ticket not sold, driving all over creation TO sell the ticket, etc, etc. However, at the end of the day...in the retrospect of a day's time...I've come to the realization that ALL of those things worked out exactly how they were meant to, in exactly the order and design GOD OPRAH must have intended.
Before I knew it....it was two Amanda's and a Kirsten, on the road sharing a 10 and a half hour drive, complete with everything 3 ladies would need in order to sleep outside for 4 days in the middle of nowhere + music, laughter, pain to be mended, open minds and welcoming hearts. It was beauty in the making...We arrived alive and checked in to our newly built, thank the heavens for Priceline.com hotel room, where a good nights sleep and fresh shower were in order. We left to find food and cold cheap beer and found the most hilarious southern waitress as an added bonus. She kept saying "Good Deal" in an accent not one of us could accurately mimic to perfection. We loved her and man oh man, did she love US! She brought us free cider, made us laugh uncontrollably and at one point even tried to work her southern charm to get us a police escort to Bonnaroo. Stephanie was a sweetheart...., a true Tennessee tip-working terrific.
Skipping ahead to the festivities, (which I will have to try and mash together)...Festivities meaning all 700 acres of land occupied by 90,000 music loving hippies. We struggled at first to set up the 8 person tent which we borrowed from Amanda's brother...but then we met Sam. Our ever so macguiver like neighbor, who helped us, welcomed us, introduced his gf Amanda (yes, another one) to us, schooled us on the Roo do's and dont's and in the end, became more than just our neighbor and our all around "go-to" guy, but became our friend.
We drank alot, ate a little, people watched, collaborated our schedule, wondered off to find cheap coffee and access the walk of shame to the port-o-potties. The teepee tents, Lackin road (which we cutely nicknamed "bitchez are lackin' road") and a Britain Flag were our landmarks in a sea of cars, tents, tall grass, mystery bugs, un-earthly friendly people and a hell of alot of dust.
Music anxiety quickly filled us up and we entered Centeroo & addictively began seeing great band after great band after...you guessed it, great band. Eminem, Florence & the Machine, Ray, Amos Lee, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, School of Seven Bells, Mumford & Sons, Robert Plant with Patty Griffin, Atmosphere, Scissor Sisters, G. Love, Widespread Panic and more! We got lost once, learned alot about one another, walked alot, bathed with jugs of water, used two boxes of baby wipes, cuddled, laughed, reflected, sweated uncontrollably, threw up, drank more, held hands, sang, danced...(well, I danced), borrowed, shared and, perhaps most importantly, gained an incredible appreciation for the small things.I let go of things, I jumped into the unknown, I looked fear in the face, I felt something...a deep connection not only to someone, but to everything...down to the microscopic matter that was woven together to create the most humbling experience of my life thus far.
There is so much more....more out there and more inside of me. Bonnaroo let me taste that and I am forever grateful and indebted.
Amanda, Kirsten, Sam & Amanda and Bonnaroo, THANK YOU.
My soul is etched with magic and I only hope that next year will kick this year's ass!
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