I am flying to Sacramento for a memorial tribute concert this evening, honoring Scott Miller. It's a fundraiser for his family, with performances by his friends and former bandmates.
This trip is possibly the most self-centered expenditure of my life, and taking the red-eye back for my older daughter's 10th birthday party adds some bonus stress. I took Friday off work to spend with her, since I'm missing half her birthday weekend. On the way home from a wonderful day, I told her, "No favors denied... not on the last day that we're young." She gets it, God love her, she does. And having talked with her in recent months about why I was sad, she understood why I'm going. She cried that I had to go for a whole day, and miss the whole morning of her birthday - but she understood.
One night back in May, she was arranging 24 stuffed animals on her bed, which caused me to start singing "24." She thought the chorus was cute, and started singing it with me. I took out my phone, and played the whole song for her. She liked it. She wanted to hear it again, and wanted to sing it with me. I burst into tears, mostly tears of joy. For the first time in my whole life, someone I love had responded to Scott's music. It was one of my happiest moments ever.
I am not so lucky in every part of my life, but I count my blessings and believe that I'm the luckiest man on Earth.
