Scary Start Of The Year

      Well, I don’t know where I should begin, it feels like a lot has happened since I last wrote you. I guess I’ll start with the easy stuff. I’m a little unsure of what’s going to happen tonight. I practiced with the Calvins last night. I usually don’t like to practice 2 nights in a row, because my fingers can get kind of sore, but I’m feeling good today. Practice was good. We’re working on a new song, and it’s getting pretty close to being written. We also started learning a new cover song. We want to play it at our next show, which is February 17^th. We’ve got a lot of work if we want to get that done. It’s not that hard of a song. I’ve already memorized it, and last night we found out that the guitarist hasn’t even listened to it yet. Hence some of our problems. But the first time went well, and I think we can get it in time. People will be stoked! I was glad to find out that Wednesday practice will only be for another couple of weeks, and then we’ll get back to usual. The reason I’m not sure about tonight, has to do with the Eruption. Well, technically JoZ. Remember last week when I was confused why it took so long for them to get back to me about playing last Thursday? This week was different. I sent out my usual message on Monday, asking about Thursday. The guitarist responded right away, he was in. Then the drummer, you guessed it, said he couldn’t. And then, a little later, the keyboardist said he was in. I responded “sweet,” like I usually do. I took that interaction to mean that at least 3 of us, JoZ, were getting together tonight. However, usually on practice days, the guitarist will text me to make sure what time I’m picking him up. I did not receive a text from him today. I assume we’re on, I know I could text, but I’d like to think I don’t have to.

     My desire for mystery could end up costing me $50. My card has already been charged for the room, so if we don’t practice, I’m out $50. I hope we’re practicing! If not, at least it should be fun to see the look on his face when I show up on his doorstep unannounced. I hope I have assumed correctly. That’s the thing, with the Calvins we don’t need to verify. Even if we don’t text, everyone shows up on time to practice. I prefer it that way. Oh well, I like a little mystery. This ought to be interesting. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Sort of. Now that we got that out of the way, we can get on to more serious content. Last Friday was my wife’s birthday. I think I told you about the events we had planned. So, for her actual birthday, I believe I told you, we planned on going to our local barbeque spot, and I put out a message on social media letting people know. She got a pretty good turnout. I’m not sure she got everyone she wanted, but there was a good amount of people. The surprising part to me was that most of the people there were the same people we had hung out with on the Sunday prior. It’s not that big of a deal, apparently, we like to hang out with each other, I was just surprised at how many people were willing to do it again. I kept looking around with the feeling of: “I guess these are our friends.” There seemed to be, at least to me, a lot of noticeable absences. There were people I thought would definitely be there, but no. I was a little surprised, but my wife didn’t complain once. She seemed pleased with the crowd, and I never heard her once say anything about who wasn’t there. In the subsequent days, she received a lot of “Sorry I couldn’t make it” texts. We had a good time, the pictures looked great, it was fun.

     I just got the confirmation text! Whew! From both of them, within a minute of each other! We are in synch! And I continue: The next morning, we slept in, and as we were getting ready to get ready to go to the casino, my wife got a phone call from an unknown number. She answered. It was our daughter, she was at the hospital because she was in a car accident. She was the only person injured. Approximately 200 yards away from her grandmother’s house, she lost control of her vehicle, crashed into a parked car, and rolled her vehicle. She had to climb out of an upside-down vehicle with a shard of glass in her hand. It separated her middle finger from her index finger to about the middle of her palm. She’s alive! That’s all we could really think at the time. It was near 2 am, she had been out with friends, and luckily the officer did not test her BAC%. She may not have been “drunk,” but still. This is the 2^nd car she’s destroyed in 2 years! Both times avoided going to jail! Both times avoided injuring anyone else. Thank God! Needless to say, this is not what you want to hear on your birthday weekend. The mood was dampened. Her grandmother picked her up from the hospital, she was sleepy, and said that we should go on with our plans. Although our plans were to hang out with her! My wife thought it would be best to go about our business, thinking it would take her mind off of it. I don’t think that would’ve been possible. We lost a bit of money, had a nice dinner, and saw her the next day. It was not good to see her like that. Mostly just the hand, and a bump on the face, but still, you don’t want to see your loved one in pain, even if it is their fault. So now we get to wait and see how this will all unravel. More details to come.