PaD #24: a stranger

I don't know any of these people - well, I haven't met any of these people...yet.  which, technically, makes them strangers, but I love them and call them family.  'why?'  you may ask.  'how?'  you may wonder.  I'll explain.  these kind folks are all in attendance at a Rainbow Gathering, where I like to go on the 4th of July, as often as I can, since 1991.  we call it 'going home' because that's what the experience is like for most of us.  Rainbow is a place for freaks like me to be free - free of the confines of mainstream society, free of the cares that living your daily grind can wear you down with, free of the judgements people who choose to live outside the mainstream tend to endure when existing in 'Babylon', free to be who we are in safe space created and maintained with loving kindness, and free to explore and interact with an abundance of like-minded individuals who often as not have better ideas on how to do things than 'the way things are done'.  are we free to do these things outside of the gatherings?  for sure!  but can you imagine being surrounded by thousands of these folks all working and interacting towards the goal of peace and harmony for a whole week (that's how long I usually stay, many stay much longer)?  the energy is magnetic, transformative, enlightening, illuminating, healing, and joyously uplifting.  so even though these members of my chosen, extended family remain thus far strangers to me, they are also people I look forward to meeting out in the world I live in during the other 51 weeks of the year.  bless them all ♥