Closing out for the season

It’s odd to close out a vacation home for the summer…at the beginning of summer. But it honestly makes sense for my life schedule - 90% of my work is in the summer, between my event and singing at Knott’s every weekend. So summer is not relax time for me, it’s work time. I hate it, but hey, at least we get a nice summer trip in there somewhere. We leave for Hawaii in two weeks. 

It was hard to be in the desert this weekend knowing we won’t be out there again until September or possibly October if that weekend after my event is too hot or I get a gig or something. I couldn’t help escaping the constant thought that soooo much will be different by September, in ways I can’t even conceive right now. First, the California governor and mayor races will be more honed (primaries are Tuesday and both races are contentious and stressful); we’ll be just two months shy of the mid terms, and personally, I’ll know what happened at my event. The uncertainty of the moment is almost unbearable. I keep compulsively checking my turnout against last year, but at three months out, I’m still behind so there’s no way I’m not losing more people. As always, the question is, just how bad is it going to be? And, more importantly, how far is this going to go? Is this going to turn around when the economy turns around, or are big splashy dance events like this becoming dinosaurs? Boy do I wish this was happening ten years from now and not right now. This event still has to be successful for sixteen more years if I’m going to survive. Right now that’s not looking so great. Which a couple of years ago was a thought that wouldn’t even have crossed my mind. How do we survive the one-two punch of COVID followed by Trump? I honestly don’t know. Just try to survive. That’s my motto.

This week starts the graduation extravaganza - Bobby graduates Thursday, Theo the following Wednesday, with a confusing collection of half days and pot lucks and activities for the remaining eight days of school. My sister comes into town Tuesday, and I finally get to get my will paperwork together and signed and notarized. I also have an engineer coming over to assess the collapsing garage, and a mortgage guy working on my HELOC to hopefully pay for the garage and provide a buffer against economic issues for the next few years. 

This weekend we had a nice small town vibe of visiting the local public pool (would be a lot more fun if it wasn’t always freezing cold) followed by the new (lame) Star Wars movie at the old timey drive in. Then I stripped the beds, packed up the old food and anything that could melt in 120° heat, and we left. Boy, am I dying to know what our lives will be like when we return. Everything is happening so fast these days, you can live a whole lifetime in just a day.