DAY 383: A Swarm of Skoolies (2/25)

Attending this year’s Skoolie Swarm in Florida is the sweet nectar of natural surroundings, the joy of authenticity without apology and with acceptance, the rhythm of drums around a  distant fire, and a moon going full above. A lake, pine trees, sandy soil, sounds of laugher, power tools and barking. The days are warm, the nights, cold. (Yeah, you all back in New England would be running around in shorts if it were 45 degrees outside, but here in Florida, it’s considered cold.) Pretty much full sun replenishes the power I use before 4pm.

We are city buses, skoolies, box trucks, and vans. We are an air mattress and a candle, and a king-sized bed with lighting managed by Alexis. There are roof decks and back porches. Every one is different. Anything goes. It feels like a symphony is being played, with each bus, van, and truck in various stages of buildout being a unique instrument, together making beautiful music. Sometimes generators scattered throughout the cam; drown out the notes.

Random acts of kindness are everywhere. People pool together as needed, whether it’s to cook a community breakfast, pull a bus out of the sand, or help a newbie get her bus to the point she can start the build. Someone offered a ride to the showers. A golf cart comes around with water jugs and firewood. Volunteers collect garbage; as do three young girlfriends who haul it away for $1 a bag. My needs are help transitioning to a laptop without a broken screen, a brake light that won’t work after installing a new bulb, and getting the bench bed storage piece out of here to make room for two chairs and a table. There are three days left.

I am part of a sisterhood of women who have circled together more than a decade. The energy from the skoolie community is the only group that comes anywhere close to being as accepting and nurturing as the sisterhood. In part, I believe, because there are witches among us.