The End of the Tour

I woke up yesterday morning at the La Quinta Inn, after a night of returning emails, barely refreshed and zombie-like at 7am. I didn't have time to shower, but at least I got my luggage back from the airline, so I had a change of clothes.

Three people from our makeshift family had already left the hotel for the airport; they were headed out on the 7:30 flight. Crazy people.

Jessica and I decided on the 9:30 flight, because who wants to wake up at 5?

We took the shuttle to the Sacramento airport, driven by a delightful woman, who was very excited about her upcoming Independence Day Barbecue, and listed for us all the food she planned on making.

Then she shifted gears, showed us a photo of her 16-year-old daughter, and told us all about how "high-maintenance" she was. "She wants to buy hi-tops, that new phone that's out, everything. She wants everything. And she got herself a job, so she can just go ahead and buy herself everything with her own money!"

Anyway, it was a colorful ride.

We arrived, got our boarding passes and went to Chili's for breakfast. Yeah, it didn't sound good to me either. But they had a plain old bacon and eggs breakfast, which was nice, because it felt like I hadn't eaten in days.

We sat down to eat, and Jessica told me all about her life as a counselor. I really respect the field of psychology/psychiatry/sociology. It's a subject I've always been interested in. I suppose that's one of the reasons I write songs, cause I just like observing people. She told about the techniques she uses with her patients/clients/whatever you call them. I told her a little about my new album, and the concepts behind it.

Between there and the flight, we both knew a lot about each other. It's really amazing how quickly you can get to know somebody in certain situations. Nicole calls them "summer camp relationships."

We got seats together on the plane, and we talked about music, etc, I played her some of my music on my iPod. It was fun, and it made the time pass very quickly. Flights typically go by pretty slowly for me, unless I'm travelling with Nic.

I told her I'd write a song about her for the new album. She told me she'd email me. I hope she does.

Nic met me at the baggage claim, and it felt like I was travelling for months, like I'd adventured all the way across the world. It should've only been a 2-hour flight, but I guess when you're making a connection in Sacramento, all bets are off.

It was so great to see her. It had been a whole month and her face looked different (I'm not sure if it actually was different though). I had to reconfigure her features in my mind, and though she's a radiant beauty in my memories, seeing her for real was a shock. She is the most gorgeous creature there ever was. While I remembered that in concept, it knocked me back to see it.

I hugged her, and that part of me that was missing was suddenly complete again. Everything felt right. We laughed and laughed about whatever it is we were talking about, and the world felt soft and lovely again.

What a long month it was, and how glad I am that it's over.