I got to see Zachery again for a night before he left Colorado.  It was so difficult to say goodbye on playa and now I have to say goodbye again.  It’s just as difficult this time.  I have a hope that this isn’t just a random week, but that there is something deeper happening here.  It feels like this is significant, but I actually can’t tell if it is or if I just want it to be.   I fall in love so easily.  Is this just attachment behavior?  What is left when that runs it’s course?  Understanding Attachment Theory doesn’t make this less painful.  Ugh.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

I got home and my realtor was supposed to have had movers pack up a bunch of my stuff and move it into storage and have the house on the market.  None of this was done.  This is the only reason I decided to hire this realtor.  She told me it would be no problem and then she did nothing while I was gone.  Now I have to find the movers and the cleaners and do it quickly because a lot of time has been lost already.  I want to fire my realtor, but I just don’t have time to do that and find a new one.  I’m exhausted and sick and don’t need this now.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

Cliche – I found myself at Burning Man

So, I won’t write about all my Burning Man stories.  But here are two highlights that are worth mentioning.

I did a full day shift unlocking cars with one of my favorite people, Katie.  That was the longest volunteer shift I’ve ever done and we just had a blast.  We rocked it at unlocking cars.  No locked car left behind.  Heroes for a day!  That was the best volunteer shift I’ve had on Playa.

That night I was supposed to go out with some friends, but I was very late due to a flat tire on my bike that just didn’t want to be fixed.  It took forever and when it finally was fixed, I headed out to see if I could find my friends.  One of them had left and the other was still in his camp.  I was so frustrated.  Nothing is going according to my plan.  So, I went out with other friends than the ones I had planned to.  One of the guys that went out with us was someone I had just met earlier that day.  I had barely paid attention earlier because he’s not the type I usually go for.  If it wasn’t for the flat tire, I’d have gone out with other friends earlier in the evening and might not have spent time with Zachery.  We ended up spending a lot of time together the rest of the week.  He’s considerate, interesting to talk to, and fun.  When I was with him, I felt like he was present with me.  I felt like he had nowhere else he wanted to be than with me.  I felt taken care of, I felt loved and desired.  I loved the way he looked at me.  I haven’t really felt this in a long time.  There was definitely a part of me that was still believing that I’m not lovable, that no matter what I do, there is no one to love me.  The only guys I found in the past were ones that didn’t want a serious relationship until the girl after me.  Or I was their second choice.  Or they told me I was wonderful and they hoped I found someone wonderful to love me (someone else).  I wonder if I have finally chosen differently.  I had forgotten that I am lovable and desirable and after this week, I could actually feel that I am.  I have no idea what the future holds, but I am more in touch with my femininity than I ever have been and I’m actually enjoying the uncertainty of it!  I cried a lot of the drive home, both because I was so happy to love myself again and because I was sad to say goodbye to this wonderful man.

I was sick with a sinus infection for most of the week.  I didn’t gel with my camp as much as I would have liked.  In no way did it turn out to be Easy Man, but, I wouldn’t change a thing.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

Easy Man is Over

We left at 4 pm yesterday with the plan to drive through the night and arrive at the line for the gate an hour or so early.  At 4 am he was too tired and I was starting to melt down.  We decided it was safer to get a hotel and sleep for a few hours.  The van was so uncomfortable that neither one of us could sleep in it.  It took every last ounce of energy I had to not kill the guy who checked us in to the hotel that moved so slow wanted to have a little 4am chat.  So, this late night plan may have saved our lives, but it made us late and  set us up for one of the most annoying experiences of my life (yes, I know, first world problem).  We got to Wadsworth at noon.  This is normally 1.5 hours from the playa.  Traffic stopped.

It’s 5:00pm and we still aren’t to Gerlach (town right before the event).  I’m tired and cranky and struggling being present with anything.  Will we ever get there?  Will I even get there in time for my Lock Out shift tomorrow?  For a while I was doing well with just being present and going with the flow, but I think maybe I was just lying to myself.  I’m frustrated.  It’s bringing up all sorts of hopeless feelings.  I just want to go home.  Why do I want to go to this anyway?  What’s the point of anything?  Easy Man is over and now it’s just way too many funny dressed people trying to get to the desert.

The only entertaining thing is the discovery of the Shirtless Man Early Warning System.   The cars would move for about 10 miles and then stop for an hour or so.  With a solid line of cars and motorhomes, it was difficult to see up ahead when cars might start moving again.  There was a group of shirtless men about 8 cars up that would get out every time we stopped and go off to the side of the road to play frisbee or drag chairs out to sit in.  We couldn’t see when the cars were about to move, but we could see the shirtless men pack up and run get back to their cars.  Thus the Shirtless Man Early Warning System was activated.

We finally got in the gate and dropped my stuff off at my camp at 11:00pm.  The only people in camp are a bunch of high people sitting on a couch out front.  The two people I know are not here.  I’m staying in the girl’s dorm.  My dorm room is too small for me to put all my stuff in.  I’m exhausted and I just don’t want to be here.  Full melt down.  Chey finds me and helps me sort out my stuff and reminds me we have a central shared area where I can put some of my stuff.  Chey may have saved my life.  Instead of going out with the art car and meeting new people, I go to bed.  Maybe I won’t want to die tomorrow.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

I am all packed for Burning Man except food which I’ll pack last.  I packed pretty easily – If I didn’t already have it (except for new goggles), I didn’t need it.  I had one pair of shorts that needed a top.  Katie made a suggestion of something I could make and I told her that making costumes did not fit with my Easy Man plan.  An old T-Shirt, a pair of scissors, some ribbon, and 10 minutes later Katie had made me a shirt.  Thanks Easy Man and Katie!

I stayed up super late though taking pictures for the realtor of everything that could be packed and moved to storage while I’m gone.  Exhausted.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

I met with another realtor that was recommended to me.  I told her my issue about not being able to clean the place up before I left for two weeks.  She said it was no problem.  Stuff could be moved out while I was gone and the place could be cleaned and staged.  It would be on the market before I got back.  She also said it wouldn’t be an issue to work around my roommate’s schedule.  I decided to work with her instead of Trelora.  Soon, my house will be up for sale.  This makes me sad.  I love my house, but I don’t know when I’m coming back and I’m not sure I’m coming back to live here.  And it would be financially easier to leave.  So, here we go.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

I’m a Rescue Diver!

I got my rescue diver certification this weekend.  Whoa, that was exhausting.  Lake Chatfield is cold and dark and murky.  What a nasty place to dive.  Dragging “victims” into shore all day was physically challenging, especially when they are big men and I’m a tiny woman.  But, I must say, I rocked it.  Saturday night I went home, ate dinner and went straight to bed.  Almost the same thing today.  It must be a popular place to practice rescue as Little Fire was there today and both days rescue dogs were practicing.  Today there were rescue Newfoundlands.  What beautiful dogs – made me really miss my Saint Bernard, Kuma.  It was almost comical at times to look out across the water at all the pretend victims splashing around.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore