I’m completely exhausted after two days of non-stop dancing and my bathtub is caked in dirt. I have to dry clean just about every piece of bedding that I own, and have lost one or more pieces of all of my favorite costumes.
This is evidence of a perfect weekend.
Those of you who know me well also know that I was introduced to the music festival scene two years ago. My dear friend and brother, Bill Bonnefil, invited me to become his Facebook friend and to enter his fabulous world of weird people, but only after I offered a confidentiality agreement. :)
Bill is one of the most creative people I know, and is fiercely talented, both in design and the outdoors. He was my first real friend in San Diego, helped me find my first amazing apartment, assisted me in designing our company’s kick-ass office, and unlocked my creative, loving spirit animal…the Cheshire Cat.
Two years ago, Bill invited me to join him at a small, intimate music festival in Guadalupe Canyon, Mexico, called Leyenda Eterna. We drove for two hours through a dried-out lake bed until we found ourselves in…paradise. This is where I found a piece of myself that I didn’t even know I was missing.
And this weekend, two years later, I had the opportunity to bring Andrew to this special festival with me. I had taken him to Guadalupe Canyon last year with a small group of friends (Leyenda took a year off), and he absolutely fell in love with the storybook environment. But because he had never been to a music festival before, he was a bit apprehensive about the scene this year.
We have both been overwhelmed with work and life in a new city, so we’ve had trouble unplugging from the grid since our honeymoon. But we finally pulled away on Friday for three days with no cell phones, no computers, no calls…just each other, nature, and my community of crazy festival goers.
Driving through the Laguna Salada at 2pm, we took turns speeding as fast as we could so that we could fishtail around in the dirt. We found a random blue toilet in the middle of nowhere, so we decided to stop and have an impromptu photo shoot. We danced and giggled, and two hours later, we arrived.
By the time the sun had set, we were vibrating to the amazing Johnny Quest on the main stage, making new friends with gorgeous people we had never met, and re-committing our love to one another. We danced all night and throughout the next day, soaked in natural springs hot tubs and told jokes for hours, and had deep conversations with people we both admire.
We became closer with nature, with strangers and with old friends this weekend. But most importantly, we became closer with each other. We watched our lover with admiration and respect. We allowed ourselves to fully connect with our beautiful environment. And we were reminded of how amazingly blessed we are to have found each other.
It is after a weekend like this one that I have to stop and offer gratitude. Thank you, Bill, for opening my eyes. Thank you, Guadalupe Canyon, for welcoming us into your arms. And thank you, Andrew, for reflecting back to me the beauty that you see, so that I can fully reflect your loving soul.
