The Kevin Gordon Curse
During the first round of vomiting I thought to myself "oh damn...I gotta get over this quick, the house concert is TOMORROW!" In the midst of the second round of vomiting I decided that I could just stay in bed the next day and not let anyone upstairs and Ernie could handle the house concert on his own. The third time I found myself bent over the damn toilet I thought, "hmmm......I think we need to let Kevin know what he'll be walking into." By the fourth round I just wanted to cry because I was relieved Kevin Gordon's show was canceled and heartbroken at the same time that it was canceled and there was nothing left to come out of me and I was tired of throwing up.
The Gordon Curse. Last year I was sick as a dog during his New Year's Day show but it was a sinus infection kind of thing hanging on---I didn't feel like I was endangering anyone so we went ahead and it was a great show. Granted I went to bed as soon as it was over, but it was great. This year, between vomiting I dozed and looked at my iPad and of course read all sorts of things about the flu and contagion and finally I realized we just couldn't welcome people into our house with these germs floating about. I still cried like a baby when Ernie came upstairs from talking to Rodney (Kevin's booking guy) and Kevin on the phone to tell me it was officially cancelled. I just sat there crying like a five year old, sobbing "I'm just so disappointed." Ernie told me I was burning up and got me back into bed where I laid there like a pathetic rag.
I had been SO excited for this show....we were really excited to hear some of Kevin's new songs, we had some new folks coming to the show, I thought we'd have a good show, my hoppin john was great....and I had hoped to send Kevin on his way with a good sized stack of $20 bills. That's what made me feel the worst, not just the disappointment for us, but for messing up Kevin's bottom line for the week. Ach.
I promise we'll make it up to you Kevin...
So that was 2014. I can't say it will go down as one of my favorite years. Certainly not one of the worst however. We started out the year in February with Ernie's cancer showing its head, then the car accident in March. Totaled the car, had to buy a new one, and even with the insurance settlement it killed us financially. Took months to get Ernie's shoulder injury properly diagnosed, then surgery. The refrigerator debacle in the midst of it...and then the stove. Oh yeah, by the way, we bought a new stove. We tried getting parts and couldn't get it to work and then the stove top started acting weird and we just said the hell with it. So, in the last year and a half we have bought a furnace/air conditioner, a car, a refrigerator and a stove (my stomach hurt when we were buying it but I thought it was just stress....didn't realize it was the flu coming on). No wonder we're broke. Geesh.
Anyway...it's 2015 and I am feeling better today. I actually ate something other than saltines and ginger tea. More importantly, my gorgeous and delightful son Owen turned 13 today. And that really makes everything all right with the world. Now I'm going to go lie down on the couch again.
Opening birthday gifts this morning: