sunday night was such an amazing night. the day dragged on a bit because of all the partying i did the night before, but all i could think about all day was how great tonight was going to be. it's such a crazy feeling knowing this is the last night. the week seemed like it lasted forever and now it's suddenly about to end. when the time finally came to leave, i left everyone in my camp behind and took off on foot with the neighbors that i'd made friends with. trish(NY), tim(NM), patrick(CA), and i talked about all the things we did and people we met that week on our way out to the temple. when we finally made it all the way to the temple tim hopped on a random swing that was driving by. that was the last i saw of him for the night. soo many people around walking to the same place. the wind was blowing right to the spot most of the people were walking too, so we decided to head up wind to a less crowded place. patrick trish and i found a perfect spot where people hadn't settle into yet and sat down. we drank a little and smoked and talked about how long we thought it took to make something so beautiful. the love and energy that was put into it and all the things we and others had written on it. before we knew it people were everywhere around us. sitting around, standing. most of them really quiet, just staring at the temple. there were two silver kites floatin in the wind and in the distance bagpipes and some lady singing a song i'd never heard before. i remember putting my head down for awhile and just listened to everything around me and thought about the week i just had and the weeks i was going to have. finally it was time, i watched as someone walked around lighting flares starting different sections on fire. i don't know who, but whoever was behind me put their hand on my shoulder and squeezed. i looked back and smiled and turned back to the burning temple. as it started to get brighter from the fire i looked around and realized that everyone had tears in their eyes. my eyes where pretty blurry too and it was hard to make out the peoples faces around me. when the fire reached the center part of the temple it exploded with light and heat. it was so intensly hot and bright in the first row where i was sitting i had to cover my face and any part of skin that was exposed. i put on my goggles and put my hands over the rest of my face. it was SOO warm. i looked over at patrick and trish and they were doing the same thing i was. everyone had tears running down their faces and said nothing. as the fire died down a bit i could see the silver kites in the sky reflecting the fire from down below, it was so beatiful. the person holding my shoulder squeezed one last time then let go. the top part fell down and everyone yelled out for a minute, then it was quiet again. we waited for quite awhile for the temple to fall and finally decided to head back to camp. the walk back was nothing like the walk there. we got a lost for a minute and all of us walked around looking for the way back home talking about how we didn't want to go back to the real world but knew we had to. i thanked my new friends for sharing the experiance with me and made sure we had contact info for eachother. i gave them all a hug and wished them a good night and a safe trip home. i sat in camp alone for a few minutes before everyone else got back and made myself a drink.
looking back, going with these people instead of my campmates was more enjoyable for me. non of us knew eachother before, but now we all fealt connected together and are keeping in good contact with eachother. not the craziest story from burningman, but one of my favorites from this year.