That time I accidentally joined a commune (intro post)

Hello Community, My name is Aries and I wanted to tell you a little about myself.

When I was 22, I went on a cross country trip from Springfield, MO; a small town in the mid-west, to Key West, FL., at the urging of an acquaintance. We drove for days. I saw the ocean for the first time. I experienced what life is like in Key West. I had gone under the impression that there would be a job waiting for me down there, and I needed some time away from home. When we arrived, the acquaintance disappeared, and as the days passed I realized he wasn't coming back and there was no job.

I wandered aimlessly around the city for days, experiencing what it's like to be surrounded by people with lots of money to spend, and to be equally surrounded by people in a similar situation to mine, with no money, showcasing their talents on the street for tips.

Eventually I realized that it was time to move on. I was getting hungry and tired of sleeping in my car, and being homeless and jobless in a tourist town is not a good situation to be in. I wanted to go somewhere, but not back home.

I traveled north, to a town we had stopped through on the way to Key West, called Ellijay, Georgia. It was a small town with nothing to do. I managed to find a couch to crash on. I began to rest and re-cooperate and came to the realization of where my life was and what lead me here. I was having some dark times.

I began to drive a lot, aimlessly, thinking and observing the area. Not long after I arrived, I met someone who needed a ride out to help set up a festival in the next town over, in Blue Ridge, GA.

When I arrived, I hopped out of the car with my new friend and began helping some men finish up a deck attached to a shop in preparation for the festival. I met some very interesting people that day.

I kept on coming back, every single day to help them build and clear and set stages. Eventually I just moved into a vaccant tent on the property and began to stay there permanently. By this time I had learned that the festival was a family reunion of sorts, some 500 people come to attend every year, and it started in the 70's with a small group of people, that eventually grew every single year.

I stayed for the festival, my first one, and had many life changing moments occur. I stayed after the festival and began settling into a life on the land. It turned out that the person who owned the land wanted friends and family who were interested in a simpler lifestyle to come live and create a small community that could farm and do business together and build eco friendly homes if they wanted to live there permanently.

Eventually I moved away, but I stayed for about 6 months. Around that time I met my wife at another festival, we got married at another festival, and 3 years later I moved back home. It taught me a lot about perspective. The impermanence of all things, how far my limits could be pushed, and how much you can experience when you just let go and let the experiences happen.