The Good.................................
It's been weeks since I learned about a lantern festival. You write messages on huge paper lanterns, fill them with hot air, and then release them into the night time sky. This was on my bucket list, and I was tickled to death to learn that there would be one here in the United States and close by.
I got the tickets for a group of us to attend, made all the arrangements to get there and a place to stay. Now all we had to do was wait for the magical date to come around.
The day of October 18, 2014 was finally here. Couldn't have asked for better weather or better company to enjoy this event. We left in plenty of time to head to Jean, Nevada. Along with several thousand other people, we left on large air conditioned buses that transported us to the middle of nowhere, dropped us off, and we walked to where the magic was going to happen. Out in this desolate desert called the Mojave, was a place filled with torches waiting to be lit, a huge "RISE" sign that gave us the go ahead to enter. We found our place, opened our mats to sit on, and waited for nightfall to appear.
I got the tickets for a group of us to attend, made all the arrangements to get there and a place to stay. Now all we had to do was wait for the magical date to come around.
The day of October 18, 2014 was finally here. Couldn't have asked for better weather or better company to enjoy this event. We left in plenty of time to head to Jean, Nevada. Along with several thousand other people, we left on large air conditioned buses that transported us to the middle of nowhere, dropped us off, and we walked to where the magic was going to happen. Out in this desolate desert called the Mojave, was a place filled with torches waiting to be lit, a huge "RISE" sign that gave us the go ahead to enter. We found our place, opened our mats to sit on, and waited for nightfall to appear.
Writing from my heart, words and expressions on the sides of the lantern, made me feel very vulnerable. I wanted to write a lot, but once there and the lantern was in my hands, my brain froze, left me speechless, and my fingers paralyzed. Then the aha moment came.......it's not how many words I write, but what I am feeling. One or two words can speak volumes. Letting go is hard for some people. Letting go is hard for me. Letting go of emotions that have kept me a prisoner at times. This was that aha moment......I learned I can let go. I can let go of the emotional baggage. I know this because I watched in float away, up high, in the night time sky...........I released my first lantern with two words.....LET GO................
Releasing that first lantern was letting go of emotions that I was happy to see disappear......As I watched lantern #2 soar upwards, the beginning of a new chapter in my life with the words written on the side........NEW BEGINNINGS...........planted itself firmly in my heart and made a smile a mile wide on my face.........
I am still in shock on how beautiful this experience was. Next to the birth of my children, this definitely takes a place right along side...Looking around and seeing the joy, the happiness, the tears on peoples faces was incredible. We all came for different reasons, but I left with a feeling of something so breath takenly beautiful, emotional, and humbling, that I will never forget it........
What I wrote was for me. It was something that made my heart sing loud, ease my mind, and give me a calm feeling. I know now how it feels to have peace hugging you. I have never been around anything quite like this and nor have I felt anything so electric and magnificent. The charisma generated from the crowd was incredible. It's a spectacular sight to behold and to participate in.
Getting back to the buses to take everyone home was a nightmare. I'm not putting the blame on anybody. But it could have been executed a little differently. The crowd of 15,000+ people didn't see it that way. I roll with the flow and roll I did, right smack dab into a hole, ravine, whatever. All I know is that both my ankles buckled inward. When you feel something snap in your leg/ankle, you know there is something wrong. I couldn't get up. Thanks to the kind gesture of two guys, they literally carried me and my fat ass to where the paramedics were stationed. Thank goodness they were not too far away. I was assessed, my ankle wrapped (they left my right ankle alone even though it was a big as an orange at that time). While they drove me via a 4 wheeler back to a shuttle, the crowd was getting wild and very angry. Words were heard to us as we drove by that all it took was faking an injury or sickness and you got a free ride back to town. I felt bad, but I was hurt.....for real...........I will not apologize for getting hurt. Believe me, it was the last thing that I wanted to do. My friend and I became separated from the other 3 ladies. Before our phones died, we managed to send an SOS to them that we'd meet back up with them at the car, in Jean, at the Casino. We got back at 10:30..........they got to us at 2:30 am. It was cold, the crowd was crazy, and many started to walk back in the dark not willing to wait for a shuttle. That was their choice. You make your own choices and you live with them.
The Ugly...................
Stupid me didn't want to go to the hospital in Nevada. I wanted to go home. I managed to get to the airport on Sunday morning, be wheeled through security, get on a plane, be wheeled off the plane and picked up by my hubby at curbside. The first words out of his mouth were "That's it!!! No more traveling without me!!!" This was a weekender girls trip, thus no hubs with me. Instead of going home, we drove directly to an emergency care facility where I got the diagnosis that I already new.....a badly sprained right ankle and a broken left fibula with possible torn ligaments. This is exactly what I wanted to hear...........NOT...........So it's a huge lie that what happens in Vegas, doesn't always stay in Vegas. It came home with me and in such a way that I will remember that Festival for years to come.......come Monday, I head to the operating room where my leg will be adorned inside with a metal plate and screws and the ligaments all tied up nice and pretty. It hasn't been easy getting around, but I have managed. I have wonderful neighbors and a great husband. And, I have no one to blame but myself........not Rise, not the angry crowd, just me...........
I definitely will do this again. Sometime in my life I will go to a foreign country and experience it. It was an item on my bucket list that I could have checked off. But why check it off. It will stay on my list of things to do as it's worth doing again, and again, and again. And, if it goes back to Vegas, yes, I will go there again, regardless of what happened this time. There is The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly in life period. I didn't think I would experience all three at the same time though!!!
I do have to get on the ground and look up to see what I am missing sometimes and this was one of those times. There is a whole big world out there that exists. I'm grateful I did this and even more I feel truly blessed that if my inner child hadn't been so "obsessed" at one time with @JefHolm, I never would have known about this Festival. It was a nice bonus to see him in person and it was nice to know that everything my inner child wrote, was spot on, he's just as handsome if not more, and just as nice as I knew he would be.........I watched him, actually stared at him, while he smiled, waved, and worked hard to help pull this magical moment for everyone off, including his family. I'll get to shake his hand sometime.....and maybe get a picture with him as well.
Thank you @RiseFestival, @danjackhill for this wonderful experience. I will never forget this as it's etched in my gray matter forever, and will be hanging on the walls in my home.............
Peace be with you.......................
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