Happy Mother's Day + Countdown to Tour

I am wishing all of you mothers out there a very happy Mother's Day. I hope that you had a great day spending time with your family, children, parents. I made breakfast in bed for my wife and then made the kids breakfast, too. We had a really chill day, not doing much of anything. My best friend, Anthony, came over and I gave him his belated birthday present. It was the red Phish shirt with a huge yellowjacket on the back in an explosion of flowers, grass, weeds. The Phish icon is orange and blue. I think that he really liked it.

Today, my wife took our oldest daughter, Lizzie, to buy a new bike. It is a 20" Mongoose in a dirty rose color. Anthony and I put the training wheels on it. Even with the training wheels, the bike looks sweet. I am going to have to teach her how to ride without training wheels and she has a fear of getting hurt. It will not be easy and will require a lot of patience. I hope that I can find it within me to be able to teach her. I still remember my dad teaching me how to ride and I know that if I can teach Lizzie it will be an important memory for her.

For dinner, I went to my brother and sister-in-law's house. We met my parents over there. I was asked to bring a salad. It had baby greens, baby cucumbers, etc. and Maytag blue cheese. That is the funk. If you have never had it but like blue cheese, then you need to rush out and get some. Maytag is the Phish of cheeses. I have had Cabrales from Spain, but it is too rich and not as palatable. I know a little about food, as I am a trained chef and went to the Culinary Institute of America. I do not cook much at all anymore; suffering from burnout. The restaurant business is one of the toughest industries and it took a lot out of me. I even developed carpal tunnel in both hands. But cooking was years ago. Anyway, we had a great dinner and it was awesome being able to celebrate with three of the most important women in my life. We had red velvet cake for dessert. I didn't eat it. I just don't get down with a red cake. It just looks terrible and I am not a fan of cream cheese or cream cheese icing either. Now that the kids are all tucked in, it is really nice spending time with my wife, even though we are both focused on our computers. We have always been comfortable doing anything together, even in complete silence. I am lucky we have a relationship like that. There is nothing worse than uncomfortable silence.

Okay, so I am feeling a lot like I did before Hampton last year. When I found out that I had actually gotten Hampton tickets, it did not really sink it at first. I was very excited and somewhat anxious about the shows. I was still into DMB and not really sure whether I would enjoy the shows. After all, I had seen Phish 25 times in 1992 and 1993, but had not really listened to them much since then, but I had seen Trey a number of times. In order to prepare for the shows, I downloaded a bunch of Phish shows and started listening. I liked almost all that I heard. There are some tunes that just didn't do it for me and they still don't. But, it was so hard trying to familiarize myself with their songs in time to be able to recognize most of the songs. Sure, I knew hundreds of them, but Phish is so hard to predict. That is one of the greatest things about the band. The Grateful Dead and DMB had both become very predictable and did not really take a lot of risks. This is especially true of the Dead.

This year, I don't feel nearly as anxious about the shows. I am very excited, but it really hasn't sunk in that we are going to 10 shows in a row with our newborn son. He is not due until May 29 and we are also moving into our new house the first week of June. That is nuts. Then, we are supposed to drive to Hartford and start the festivities.

I hope that we are doing an okay thing taking Eli with us to the shows. I posted about my idea on Phantasy Tour and people blasted me so bad that the post got taken down. I am an educated person, having both a BA in Economics and a law degree. I am a fairly accomplished person and do not think that I made the decision lightly or selfishly. It was not an easy thing to discuss with my wife because we both want our baby to be safe, but we also don't want to miss tour. I think that Eliz was very determined that we could see the band and that Eli would be just fine. Maybe you think this is a bad idea and that nothing good comes out of it. I understand that opinion. Maybe you think that I am being selfish and that there is no place for a newborn at a Phish show. I understand that too. I also know that once the child is about 6 months or a year old, it is much harder to take a child than when he is a newborn.

However you feel, that is your right. I am writing this blog for the purpose of talking about our experiences of life on the road with Eli, both good and bad. The days that loom before Hartford (and maybe even the first night of the tour, Chicago, if we are lucky) are so full of energy and the unknown feeling that comes with having your first child. At the same time, I must manage my feelings about seeing Phish. I am getting so psyched. Unlike Hampton, I sort of know what to expect and I am totally pumped to see Phish burn up the stage like they did in Hampton, all summer, all fall.

I will devote my next post to talking about my excitement and about the details of our trip up East. I really just wanted to wish all of the wonderful women in the world Happy Mother's Day and to thank them for all that they contribute to my world.