Saturday, July 30

2:50 am
Suite

Finally here.  Last hotel room of the tour.

Damn, it feels great to say that.

Tonight was fun.  The show was good, we all just hung out and had a good time.  Played some stuff we haven't in awhile.  Hell, played some stuff we've never played, ha ha.

Proved once again to my Wife that I have the best band in the world.  When we were all at the dinner table earlier she was goofing around on her phone, came across that old Romeo and Juliet song.  She smiled and did one of those dreamy "Ooh, I like this song," sighs.

So we played it.  A couple quick chords, pull up the words on Google, get 'em up on the Tele... no problem.  The look on her face was priceless when we pulled that bad boy out during the encore.  Her eyes got real big, then she grinned and shook her head.  Could see it plain as day in her expression.  "You Got Me."  Ha ha.

I love surprising her.

It was one of those nights.  I really didn't want to come offstage.  But I had to.  My chords were done, I gotta save a little something for tomorrow night.

Funny, it's like this every time.  I can't wait for the tour to be over, but when it almost is, those last few shows... I don't want to let go.  I just want to stay up there and sing and dance and let my band play.  It's a great feeling.  I'll miss it when we're done, after I recuperate.

But not enough to keep going.  Time to stop.  Time to enjoy my Wife and Kids.  And to make more Kids.

Speaking of Kids, talked to Steph earlier, on the plane here.  She's not working tonight, which surprised me.  A summer Friday night at the Parrot is always crazy.  Guess she traded shifts with one of the other girls or something.

She and Brendan were at the house, getting ready to go out to that movie on the beach thing they do on summer weekend nights.  I asked how they're doing, her and Brendan.  She said good, but she sounded a little distracted.  I wonder if that other guy still has her eye.  I kinda hope not, I like seeing her happy with Brendan.

I guess we'll see when I get home.  Stephie and I will be in the same house for a couple weeks, until I take her up to school.  I hope we get to spend some one-on-one time together.  I'm gonna miss her like crazy when she's gone this fall.

So after Steph had to go I gave Jess a call.  Got his voicemail, but he texted me back about a half hour later.  He's with Bridget.  Tonight's not the big dinner date night, though -- they were headed to a movie too.  I told him to have fun and give me a call tomorrow, and that I miss him.

I didn't call the Chuckleheads because it was past their bedtime.  I did send Dorothea a text, though, asking what would be a good time to call tomorrow.  I haven't talked much to her the last few days; think she's still a little pissed that I fucked up her plans.  But she'll get over it.  Until then we'll just stay out of each other's way.

So by the time I checked in with everybody and did a little chit-chatting with Cate and Mama Joan we were almost ready to land in Lisbon.  We did the usual drill:  wave at the cameras, shake all the airport people's hands, get in the vans to go to Customs, yadda yadda.

It never ceases to amaze me how easily my Wife sneaks through Customs.  She just waltzes in and flashes her badge while she hands over her passport, and BAM.  She's done.  I mean, it's not like we have it rough with our VIP treatment, but still.  She doesn't have to do anything.  In fact, by the time I finished she had already done her required check-in with the U.S. Embassy, retrieved her messages, and sent like 5 e-mails.

And I told her that's the last time she's e-mailing work on this trip.  If I'm almost done working, so is she.

Besides, we both have other things to work on.  Like Baby-Making.  That's gonna take a lot of attention and effort, ha ha.

But not tonight.  I'm finally winding down from the show, getting tired.  She caught me yawning a few minutes ago.  I know she's tired too, she's still a little sideways from the time change.

I'm unpacked and my teeth are brushed, clothes are in a pile on the floor.  Cate's in the bathroom doing whatever it is she does in there before bedtime.  As soon as she's done we're gonna pull back the sheets and crawl into this big ol' bed and curl up around each other and have a little romantic pillow talk, then slip off to Dreamland together.  Just like we'll do every night from now on.

Can't think of a better way to finish the day than with my Baby in my arms.


11:20 pm
Suite

My Son cracks me up.

Tonight's the night.  Jesse's doing his romantic candlelight dinner for Bridget.  He's at our apartment, up to his elbows in kitchen stuff.  In fact, Cate's talking to him on Skype right now, coaching him through the cooking.

She showed him how to make this dinner earlier this week, but guess it didn't fully take.  He must have been distracted by the idea of dessert, ha ha.

The Kid's trying, though.  And he seems to be doing a pretty good job.  He got the salad together no problem  and has the water on so he can throw the pasta in when his date arrives, but the chicken intimidated him a little.  So he called StepMama for a refresher course.

I'm having a ball sitting here watching and listening to them.  It's pretty funny, and very sweet.

Dorothea and I have one helluva fine young man in our eldest Son.

When Cate and I were hanging out by the pool Thursday she told me all about the cooking lesson.  She and Jesse went to the market together, she helped him pick out all the ingredients he'd need, then they went back to our place and she showed him how to do everything:  clean, chop, season, cook... the whole deal.  Cate said Jess was actually already a pretty good sous-chef; apparently Steph and Dorothea have taught him a thing or two.

She also helped Jess figure out what to do for atmosphere, how to make our place pretty and romantic and special without making it seem like some kinda Love Den, ha ha.

I knew Cate would understand when I told her about my conversation with Jess and my motive behind letting him have a date at our house while we were out of town.  Like me, she's not crazy about setting a precedent that we have some kind of anytime hook-up spot in our home.  But she totally agreed when I told her I want Jess and Bridget to be safe and have some privacy when the inevitable happens.

And if it's not this weekend, that's great.  They can still enjoy a little time to themselves for romance, even if they don't go all the way.

And my Wife, being the two-steps-ahead-of-me Cop she is, did something I didn't even think about.  She took all the alcohol out of the house.  It's all in the trunk of her car, ha ha.  Smart cookie, my Wife.  I don't really think Jesse would be dumb enough to get monkey-ass drunk in my house on my booze when I'm giving him this opportunity to act like a Man.

But he is a teenager, and sometimes their brains just don't work.  And he did pull the beer incident in DC with his buddies.  So better safe than sorry, I guess.

But even Cate got a little soft-hearted... she left an open bottle of Pinot Gris in the fridge. She happened to "casually mention" to Jesse just a few minutes ago that it will go bad before we get back from Italy, which would be a shame.  And it just happens to be a nice wine to pair with chicken saltimbocca.

Nice touch there, Miss Cupid.  Ha ha.

So Jesse's almost done with his cooking.  He has the table all set with the nice dishes and candles and flowers.  He picked up fresh bread from the bakery on the corner on his way over.  And tiramasu for dessert.     He's got on a nice shirt and clean pants and hopefully clean underwear.  The only things he needs now are music and his Girl.

I just asked him if he wanted my recommendation for romantic music.  Cate giggled when Jess kinda sighed "No, Dad... I already got the Sinatra playlist up."  I swear I could hear him rolling his eyes.

Son, lemme tell ya... ain't none of that shit music you listen to gonna get you laid like Frank will.  Trust me.

Looks like he's all ready to go, and Bridget should be there soon.  Cate's giving him last-minute instructions for the pasta and for keeping the chicken warm.  Nothing left to do but wish him good luck and tell him to have a nice night and be sure not to bust his curfew.  And if tonight's the night, be smart and use a condom.

But I can't say that in front of Cate.  He'll be embarrassed as Hell.  That I'll text.

This whole thing makes me smile.

So Jess isn't the only one having a sweet, romantic night tonight.  Cate and I just got back from dinner awhile ago.  We had a lovely, somewhat quiet day today.  Went out and did a little sightseeing and shopping, which would have been perfect if we hadn't been interrupted at least a dozen times for photos and autographs.

I don't normally mind if it happens once or twice, but by the fifth time Cate had to squeeze my hand and give me that little "be nice" reminder in my ear.  When we had a minute alone she reminded me that I'm the reason this city is crawling with women from all over the planet, and of course when they get their chance to touch me or talk to me they're gonna.

She also said she'll kick their asses if they try to cop a feel, ha ha.

So I did the grin-and-bear-it routine and tried to enjoy a lovely summer afternoon with my Wife.  And aside from feeling like I was the target of a bad surveillance op, it was nice.  Cate and I bought a beautiful blown-glass bowl, and I couldn't resist buying her a silver necklace.

She always teases me that I enjoy buying her jewelry more than she enjoys getting it, and she might be right.  There's something about picking out something pretty for the woman you love that just makes a guy feel Manly, ha ha.  But she was sincere when she gave me a thank you kiss right there in the store.

Cate bought me a present, too.  We were in this little stationery store where she was looking around for cards for a couple of her friends.  They had these beautiful tooled-leather bound journals, with thick, gilt-edged pages.  The covers had these ornate scrolled designs, every one different.  She saw me looking at one and told the clerk to add it to her purchases, the Sneak.

Later when we were having gelato she gave it to me.  She said she noticed this old book is getting pretty worn out, and it's almost full.  And she thought it might be a fitting start to the first day of the rest of our post-tour life to start with a fresh blank page.

I love that idea.

So after an afternoon of leisure we came back and got dressed up to go out again, this time for a little celebration.  Cate's birthday is tomorrow but with all the hoopla surrounding the Last Show we're gonna be all kinds of busy.  There will be about a bazillion special guests and business people to entertain and the obligatory hands to shake and photos to take and champagne bottles to pop.

I didn't want to try to steal a minute with her tomorrow when I'll be pulled in a billion directions, and not be able to do it.  So we went out to celebrate tonight.  We had wonderful food and wine and dancing to Spanish guitar music.  And then we came back here to continue our celebration... until Jesse called.

One of the pitfalls of Parenting, ha ha.  No matter their age, somehow the Kids always know how to interrupt at just the right moment.

And we'll still do a little something special for Cate tomorrow.  I asked Dawn to order up a birthday cake and to have the chef make something special for dinner before the show.  We'll all sing Happy Birthday and have her blow out the candles.  And I'll chuckle at the wonderment I know will be in her smile as she looks around and realizes her very favorite rock band in the world showed up to her birthday party.

Ain't that every Girl's dream?  Ha ha.

In just a few more minutes it will officially be Cate's birthday.  And it will officially be my last day of work for awhile.  Reasons for us both to celebrate.