Dallas, Texas

Sons of Herman Hall is haunted. So was Tucson's Hotel Congress and the shower of that English sea town we stayed in, but those ghosts were nice. Here, I think I pissed off the ghosts because we stole their fake campfire to use as a stage prop. Our car got broken into while we played. Luckily, the alarm was set, so the only damage done was a broken window. Nothing was stolen. I wasn't even really in a bad mood while I swept all the glass out of the van at three a.m. We rode on the highway with a cardboard window the next day. Because of the snow storm, our T-shirt shipment didn't make it to us in time. We make our money from merch sales. After realizing that using a sharpie pen to design some new shirts to sell wouldn't quite cut it, we just shrugged our shoulders one more time and said, "And so it goes on the road." (Big Star) That was the soundtrack to the load-out tonight.

Austin Texas Airport

There's a TV in the background showing a choir of girls ooohing the song "Silent Night." There's something about the first time I hear Christmas carols every year that warms my heart. I could cry, but I'm suffering from exhaustion and almost anything makes me cry these days. It's the end of tour. A long year of tour. Magnolia's been home for a week. I won't do that again -- be away from her for so long. She had to go home because tour got too hard for her . . . the long drives, the adult world, the constant motion and unpredictablility. All I can think about is getting home to her and being Mom again. Silent night, I can't wait. We decided she can sleep in our bed tonight. Even if she moves around, flailing arms and all, she is welcome next to us.

 

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