An Upswing
I am a blessed man.
Devi surprised me by meeting me in Las Vegas. She came out early for my birthday, and had let the tour people know, so there was no fuss about room arrangements etc. (Props to Rebecca yet again!)
We had all waited on the coach for the tour manager to return from the front desk with our room keys. (God and his family travel separately from we mere musicians. No doubt he was already set up in his junior suite by the time we pulled into town.) As he handed me mine, I made the usual 'what side of the room do you want this time?' comment. He shook his head, smiled, and said that we weren't together. I raised my eyebrow at this; he refused to elaborate.
Once the keys had been distributed, we gathered our gear together and tramped off the coach and into the hotel lobby. I tend to look around upon arrival, mostly to enjoy the show of people reacting to a large crowd suddenly entering and going straight to the elevators. (Yes, I have been that bored this tour.) I paused part way to the elevators, this time. I saw what I thought was a familiar redhead, her back to the main entrance, seated on one of the lobby couches, reading a magazine. She was so much like my wife, it hurt just to look. Yet look I had to.
She shook herself, as if aware of my gaze, then looked over her shoulder and immediately smiled. It was indeed Devi, and she seemed as happy to see me as I was to see her. I dropped my gear and bounded over to her; she came around the sofa in time to be caught in a long, long hug and kiss. It didn't matter where I was at that moment, for I was surely home.
Eventually though-- with a little prodding from the Swedish cellist that we should take things into private-- we made our way upstairs and spent the rest of the afternoon reacquainting ourselves with each other. We didn't even make all that much love-- we spent a good deal of time cuddling with each other, just enjoying the other person being there.
All too soon, I had to head over to the auditorium for the performance. Devi tagged along, content to watch me work as I did final tweaking to my keyboards. She watched the show itself from backstage, and stuck by my side after the show and on the way back to the hotel. (It was just a short walk through the complex, since we were playing in a theatre attached to a casino attached to a hotel.)
And since there was still an hour or so left of my birthday, we changed into nicer clothes and headed over to the casino. It wasn't quite my usual birthday style, but it was a fucking lot better than sitting around the hotel room with a book. (That was my original plan for my birthday.) Of course, any place where both Devi and I are together is a bit of all right!
We didn't win anything, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. We had a light midnight snack, several stupid rum drinks, and some great entertainment (in part spent convincing the couple we sat next to that I was from Texas-- old Ludlow family tradition to put on false accents to play with strangers' minds).
Devi and I returned to our room around 3, and actually got to sleep around 5, which wasn't necessarily good, as we had to be up at 7 to start the long day trip to Phoenix. Fortunately we're both able to sleep on transport, so we were somewhat rested by the time we arrived. (We had about an hour between arrival and performance; fortunately there were sandwiches and other foodstuffs waiting for us backstage.)
The show went well, as always, and made immeasurably better by the Misus in attendance. Today, we returned to L.A. We have settled ourselves in Devi's suite in her parents' CA digs for the time being. Dad will be coming into town to catch the last performance on Wednesday; he'll be taking Col's condo for a day or two. Thursday, Devi and I will head up to San Francisco; one day there, then up to Vancouver for Mum's birthday party on Friday. (She's had to move the celebrations because she's still stuck in Canada, eh, taking care of Col's girl. What a load of legal mess that situation is! It makes me extremely glad I've always taken care where and how I've inserted the Old Boy.)
That's it for the catch-up for now. Devi's just emerged from the bathroom in my favourite trashy 80's combo, and I must do my best to remove it all from her person….
Devi surprised me by meeting me in Las Vegas. She came out early for my birthday, and had let the tour people know, so there was no fuss about room arrangements etc. (Props to Rebecca yet again!)
We had all waited on the coach for the tour manager to return from the front desk with our room keys. (God and his family travel separately from we mere musicians. No doubt he was already set up in his junior suite by the time we pulled into town.) As he handed me mine, I made the usual 'what side of the room do you want this time?' comment. He shook his head, smiled, and said that we weren't together. I raised my eyebrow at this; he refused to elaborate.
Once the keys had been distributed, we gathered our gear together and tramped off the coach and into the hotel lobby. I tend to look around upon arrival, mostly to enjoy the show of people reacting to a large crowd suddenly entering and going straight to the elevators. (Yes, I have been that bored this tour.) I paused part way to the elevators, this time. I saw what I thought was a familiar redhead, her back to the main entrance, seated on one of the lobby couches, reading a magazine. She was so much like my wife, it hurt just to look. Yet look I had to.
She shook herself, as if aware of my gaze, then looked over her shoulder and immediately smiled. It was indeed Devi, and she seemed as happy to see me as I was to see her. I dropped my gear and bounded over to her; she came around the sofa in time to be caught in a long, long hug and kiss. It didn't matter where I was at that moment, for I was surely home.
Eventually though-- with a little prodding from the Swedish cellist that we should take things into private-- we made our way upstairs and spent the rest of the afternoon reacquainting ourselves with each other. We didn't even make all that much love-- we spent a good deal of time cuddling with each other, just enjoying the other person being there.
All too soon, I had to head over to the auditorium for the performance. Devi tagged along, content to watch me work as I did final tweaking to my keyboards. She watched the show itself from backstage, and stuck by my side after the show and on the way back to the hotel. (It was just a short walk through the complex, since we were playing in a theatre attached to a casino attached to a hotel.)
And since there was still an hour or so left of my birthday, we changed into nicer clothes and headed over to the casino. It wasn't quite my usual birthday style, but it was a fucking lot better than sitting around the hotel room with a book. (That was my original plan for my birthday.) Of course, any place where both Devi and I are together is a bit of all right!
We didn't win anything, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. We had a light midnight snack, several stupid rum drinks, and some great entertainment (in part spent convincing the couple we sat next to that I was from Texas-- old Ludlow family tradition to put on false accents to play with strangers' minds).
Devi and I returned to our room around 3, and actually got to sleep around 5, which wasn't necessarily good, as we had to be up at 7 to start the long day trip to Phoenix. Fortunately we're both able to sleep on transport, so we were somewhat rested by the time we arrived. (We had about an hour between arrival and performance; fortunately there were sandwiches and other foodstuffs waiting for us backstage.)
The show went well, as always, and made immeasurably better by the Misus in attendance. Today, we returned to L.A. We have settled ourselves in Devi's suite in her parents' CA digs for the time being. Dad will be coming into town to catch the last performance on Wednesday; he'll be taking Col's condo for a day or two. Thursday, Devi and I will head up to San Francisco; one day there, then up to Vancouver for Mum's birthday party on Friday. (She's had to move the celebrations because she's still stuck in Canada, eh, taking care of Col's girl. What a load of legal mess that situation is! It makes me extremely glad I've always taken care where and how I've inserted the Old Boy.)
That's it for the catch-up for now. Devi's just emerged from the bathroom in my favourite trashy 80's combo, and I must do my best to remove it all from her person….