The Night Before

It's nearly 5:30 AM and I've been up for 2 hours. Josh woke me up from a sound sleep to apologize for getting on my case earlier. I was late getting home after class and made him 15 minutes late for his gig at the Eugene Whiteaker Hostel. It is (was) Last Friday Art Walk in the Whiteaker and as usual, our buddy Mac hosted evening festivities including music, food and drink.

Tonight was special. Josh was asked to emcee the event as well as perform with Mac and a few others. Josh was pretty annoyed with me when I dropped him off. Rather than stay as he invited me to, I opted to give him some space and took Ada out for some beans and cheese at a local Mexican dive.

When Ada and I showed up later, we settled down on a couch inside the hostel in front of an unnamed band. There were four in the group and they seemed to revel in being acquainted with all instruments and forms of music, but master of none. Among their menagerie of instruments were a violin, two guitars -one resonator and one acoustic, an accordion, wash tub base, wash board, and a clarinet. Even the mention of the word clarinet makes me clench my teeth and cringe. (Traumatic childhood memories of playing the clarinet- don't ask.) The band was different, yet clearly in the vein of vagabond-anachronistic performers so common in Eugene. Ada watched most of their set happily on my lap, clapping along to the more upbeat tunes. Despite the occasional reedy squeak from the clarinet, I enjoyed them thoroughly.

Daddy and Mac were up next, accompanied by a few other musicians. Ada crawled up into Josh's lap and he seemed content to stop playing in order to accommodate her. About the time of the second or third song, Ada started bawling and insisted on being with Daddy. So Ada and I split for home so that we could give Daddy the night off. She must have cried "Daddy's coming" a thousand times before finally passing out an hour later. I followed suit promptly after.

That was 9 o'clock or so. It's now a quarter to six. Without even the faintest suggestion of daylight in the sky, it feels as if Friday hasn't ended. But I suppose I should try to get an hour or two more of sleep. Today...Saturday...is my last wedding for the season and I want to be on top of my game. Since Daddy woke me up, maybe he'll let me sleep in.