I often here people talk about walking the path or the journey of life and thought I understood what it meant. Yet, with my shift in focus I am starting to realize that everything I thought I understood needs to be reevaluated, because now everything is a little different.

In February I bought tickets to Burning Man. Now Burning Man is a festival in Black Rock City, Nevada where tens of thousands of people come to a deserted place and build an entire city. There is no electricity or running water, but the magical experience of radical self reliance had promised me the relief from the mundane that I had been so desperately seeking. This event was secured as turning point for me, where I had the intention of connecting with my soul among the nature, mankind among the crowds and my body through the music. The rush of excitement had been the proverbial light at the end of the dark tunnel I had found myself in. Big dreams and hopes of dancing on the playa and fraternizing with all types of interesting people had been dominating my thoughts for months, in the physical manifestation of a hippie paradise.

With the blink of an eye, it was taken from me. The pivotal moment I had been eagerly preparing for was ripped from my grasp, and tossed aside. In actuality the chemo will not allow for my body to be strong enough to handle the physical and emotional stress that comes with this brand of enlightenment. I am pretty good at accepting the turns in my journey, but this was a particularly bitter taste of reality.

To ease the sting and lessen the vile taste in my mouth, I took full advantage of my beach summer share this last week (hence Stevie’s silence). I had friends there and invited some out, and ended up spending majority of the week with most of my fellow burning man campers and other attendees. Of course Burning man was constant topic of conversation, as it it has been for months, and I would sit there just wishing I could see the man burn. Without prompting this notion, or allowing my inner arsonist to make an appearance, a friend of mine excitedly looked at me and said ‘let’s make our own burning man for you’! What seemed to me to be absolutely ridiculous, was met with great vigor by everyone else around me – their excited energy brought mine up. We gathered sticks and tore clothes into ropes, so that we may create the man we were destined to burn together. In a parade of merriment and excitement, we carried him to the beach and set him ablaze – creating our own burning man right there. We stripped our clothes and ran into the freezing ocean, saluting the moon and allowing the waves to knock us down. When the water became too much, we lie on the sand, gazing at the clear sky, counting the number of shooting stars that reflected in our eyes. It transcended a moment – and become a space of continuous love.

I know, it’s not dancing on an Art car as the worlds sickest DJ spins, and it’s not burning a city down that has taken people weeks to build; but it’s a shared experience with people who wanted to go out of their way to give me something they didn’t want me to miss out on. I thought my journey was supposed to take me to the actual Burning Man, instead it has taken me to a beach to show me how great people can be. We ranged from close friends to people meeting for the first time, but none of that mattered.

I have always realized how fortunate I was to have the people in my life that I do, but this has given me the chance to see how special people I love already are – and how special new people could be. If we live with an open heart and offer our love freely, we foster a welcoming environment where we can connect with others who live similarly. It is in those people we can allow our true selves to relax and be present, for they provide the safe space to do so. When two strangers offer one another love and it is received and reciprocated, the possibilities are endless and beautiful moments are made.