Thursday, May 12

10:15 am
Car to Airport

Heading for the jet.  The rest of the Boys are swinging by to pick up me and Matty and X on the way to Des Moines.  I should stand out on the tarmac with my thumb out, hitching a ride on my own jet, ha ha.

Iowa.  Haven't been there in awhile.  Every time I think of Iowa I hear that line from Field of Dreams in my head, where Shoeless Joe has just appeared on the baseball field and met Ray, and he's about to go back into the corn.  "Is this Heaven?"  "No, it's Iowa."

I still snicker at that line.

But off to Iowa I go.

Had such a great day off with my Cate.  Shame we didn't get to spend a little more time together, but considering it was a last-minute thing we did alright.  She pushed her flight to spend more time with me, then Mother Nature did us another favor by unleashing that hellacious thunderstorm, which delayed her flight another two hours.

We got to hang out in the VIP lounge at O'Hare for awhile, hide back in a dark corner with a privacy screen and enjoy the light show outside.  That was some big-ass lightning, let me tell ya.  We were watching the Cubs game when it rolled in; looked scary.  Glad I wasn't at Wrigley.  Though Cate would have loved to have been, ha ha.

It was almost 10 pm when Cate's plane finally got off the ground; it was after 1 am when she finally called to tell me she was home.  That's gonna make for a damned long day for her today.  I talked to her this morning when she was on her way to pick up Jess, and she's been texting me from the bus.

Can I just say how much I love that my Wife is chaperoning her Stepson's field trip?  And that she's excited about it?

Well, turns out it's a good thing she's going along.  Dorothea and I were both just a little concerned about turning Jess loose with an unsuspecting chaperone in a hotel with a bunch of cute girls.  Well guess what, it ain't just "cute girls" that are gonna steal his attention from learning and experiencing our government.  It's Cute Girl in particular.  Bridget's on the trip.

I thought this was a field trip for Jesse's grade.  Shows how much I know.  He's in Honors Government class, along with upperclassmen.  Including the object of his affection.  I wonder if that's how he got to know her, besides her being a friend of Steph's?  How funny that would be -- kinda like me and Dorothea.  We had class together, she was dating another guy but she was cool and friendly and let me cheat off her.

Jess better not be cheating.  Off anybody.  Especially a cute girl.  I pay too damned much for that school -- he better be learning on his own.

Anyway, Cate's on the job.  And she's the perfect person for it.  Not only is she a trained surveillant and interrogator, she's kind of a neutral party.  She knows the backstory, but there's not the blood-parent emotional tangles D and I have with this issue.  And if I know my Wife, she'll be cool about things but will let Jess know in no uncertain terms he's not gonna get away with Shit.

Of course I told her I expect hourly updates, ha ha.

So anyway, after I put Cate on her plane last night Matty and I hit the town.  We ended up catching up with X and his buddies at Kingston Mines and listened to some smokin' Blues sets.  It was great to chill; X made me laugh.  He's just a big ball of energy, always bouncing around and grinning and drumming his fingers against the table.  You could tell he was itching to get up and play.

He reminds me a lot of Richie that way.  Richie can't sit still either, when he's listening to live music.  In his mind he's pulling apart the melodies and riffs and chords, and his fingers are playing along.  He loves to get up and jam.  Can't wait until he's back jamming with us.

I miss him, but I'm glad he's doing good.  Heather and Ava talked to him Sunday, since it was Mother's Day he got to make a few calls out.  Of course he called Momma Joan too.  Heather texted me to pass on his "doin' good" message and to say he wished Jakey Happy Birthday.  He'll be back soon, he said.

Anyway, it was Boys' night out last night and it was a good time.  We didn't really get noticed or bothered, just hung out and drank beer and smoked (yeah, I admit it, I cheated) and talked.  I realized about a pitcher in that Matt and I haven't really done that in a long, long time, just talked as brothers.  Not as boss-employee or Security Guy and PITA Diva Rock Star, but as Brothers.

When X and his crew went over to talk to some guys they knew at another table I let Matty in on the big secret, that Cate and I are working on starting a family.  He looked stunned, then he gave me a big grin and told me that's great.  The next words out of his mouth made me laugh, and made me know for sure we're blood -- "Christ, you haven't told Mom, have you?"

I told him no, that Dorothea and the kids and Richie and Johnny all know, but that's pretty much it.  I haven't even told Tony.  Matty just kinda nodded and grinned a little more, then shook his head.  Then he told me "Ya know, if you knocked her up last night, I get dibs on being the Godfather since I got your Horny Ass here for a damned Booty Call."

Yep, he's my brother all right.

I laughed and told him it's a deal.  I'm pretty sure Cate won't mind.

So we closed down the club and took a cab back to the hotel and crashed until the wake-up call came.  A quick run at the gym, shit, shower, and shave... and here we are.  Winging our way off to the airport to catch back up with the Circus.

Yep, it was a damned good day off.  Now it's back to work.

In Iowa.

2:45 pm
Venue

Hanging out backstage, waiting for soundcheck.  Got a couple press things to do in a few minutes.

So Jesse and Cate made it to DC.  Checking into the hotel now.  Apparently they're staying at the Hilton by Lafayette Square.  Cate says it's nice.  Jess says it's a Hole.

Apparently a matter of perspective.  Cate still oohs and aahs over my suites at the Four Seasons and the Ritz, ha ha.  I guess when you have spent your life traveling on the government dime and staying in Holiday Inns the Ritz is a palace.  Or especially compared to living in tents or bunkers, like she did when she was in the military.

Yeah.  That would make the Hilton look like the Plaza.

Anyway, Cate has things well in hand.  She used her "skills" to be sure she has the room right across the hall from Jess and his buddies.  She can make good use of that peephole, ha ha.  Bridget's a couple doors down from her, so that's good.  Apparently whoever set up the rooms for this trip did have half a brain; all the girls are on one side of the hall in adjoining rooms, the boys are on the other side.  No connecting doors to sneak through.  That's assuming the girls and boys stay on their own sides of the hall, anyway.  Which I don't think is too fucking likely.

They're going out to dinner tonight at some Japanese place, then taking one of the monuments-by night tours.

Bet Jesse's tour won't be nearly as fun as my last monuments-by-night tour, heh heh.  When I was naked in the back of a limo with Cate.  Her little surprise for me.

That was a good one.

But God knows if Jess could figure out how to pull that off he would, ha ha.

Tomorrow the class is up on the Hill, then the Supreme Court.  Tomorrow night they're going to some kind of sunset ceremony at Arlington Cemetery.  White House and Spy Museum Saturday, Kennedy Center Saturday night.  They come home Sunday.  They're keeping the kids pretty busy, not much time for them to get in trouble.

But where there's a will there's a way... Ha ha.

Wish I could have gone.  I miss entirely too many of these things.  Don't really see myself chaperoning many of these field trips for Bongiovi-to-Be, considering I'll be... what?  Late 60s when she's in High School?

Jesus.  That really puts things in perspective.  My kid will probably be the only one in her high school class with a 60-some year old Daddy.  Especially one who dances around shaking his ass every night, ha ha.

But one thing about it -- I'll be there for everything else this time.  Every step, every milestone, every birthday and Christmas and first-whatever.  Hell, maybe I'll just retire and play Mr. Mom.

But not today.  Gotta go charm some reporters.

"Is this Heaven?  No, it's Iowa."  Ha ha.

Nah.  Heaven's in Jersey.