The Claudia Brown

“Is love *really* all that you need?”

I turned my head towards the voice in the darkness to see a man with a cowboy hat reading the text off my shirt, which was just barely visible in the night.

I had just arrived at Love Burn, a Burning Man inspired camping event held in the winter on Virginia Key Beach in Miami.

New to the burner scene and not fully acquainted with burner style, I thought a couple cute shirts from Target would be ideal for my first Love Burn!

One said, “Quit playing games with my heart.”

This one I wore as a warning: I was in the midst of a heartbreaking divorce and a new relationship was the last thing on my mind.

The other said, “Love is all you need.”

“Is love *really* all you need?”

I hadn’t puzzled over the question when I picked up the shirt at Target.

I smiled back shyly at the man in the darkness.

“I think so,” I shrugged.

***********************************************

Two days later, it was the night before the burn when Sunshine and I fell in love. I already had a huge crush on him, only having met him a couple times. However, something magical happened Friday night. We connected on a soul level.

I looked in his eyes, and I was home.

His expression told me he felt the same.

Despite this extraordinary connection, Sunshine and I lived in two entirely different worlds.

I was coming out of a traditional 15-year marriage while he was pansexual and had long been polyamorous.

I lived in a log cabin in the country woods with my children and animals, while he lived outside of Washington D.C. where he worked as a lawyer.

There was every reason not to be together, but love was all that we needed.

Love Burn reminded us of that fact, each year providing us more magic than the next and just enough to balance out our roller coaster ride of a relationship.

However, when the pandemic hit, our journeys took different paths. In March of 2020, I asked my six-year-old son if he had a wish for his childhood. To my surprise, he wished for farm animals — fateful given that by December my parents opted to sell Little Brook Farm, the country property where they had lived since the 1960’s.

As a single woman with one sizable mortgage, I knew the odds were not in my favor to purchase a second piece of property. However, my love for my family and the farm’s legacy was all I needed to believe I would find a way.

A few months later, I signed the property deed to purchase Little Brook Farm.

My black and yellow burn bin now stores goat colostrum and a stethoscope as the countdown begins! Three of my dairy goats will be delivering any day now.

While Love Burn still beckons, responsibility called me to a different home.

From Love Burn in Miami to birthing babies in the barnyard…

Love is really all you need.