Spin Cycle'd

I went on the June run of Phish Tour 2009. Have been home exactly a week now, and when I close my eyes, I can still see the lights. My heart is full of vibrant memories of new songs, new friends, old friends, old songs, adventures from the road, and everywhere in between. Here's a little wrap-up story for y'all:

My backpack had been sitting in the corner of my living room where I wearily laid it to rest after our 20+ hour drive->breakdown->drive home from Wisconsin after weeks of travel to experience the pure joy of one amazing show after the next.

After diving full-on into a stressful workweek straight from the road, I was relieved on Friday evening when I walked in the door, finally able to take a deep breath and "land". Kale had left for his own weekend adventure, but the house felt peaceful and calm. I gave Habibi a huge bear hug and fed him a treat. Pressed "play" on the Knoxville recording, cracked an icy cold beer, kicked off the flips, stretched out on the couch, looked over to my left, and was greeted by my trusty tour backpack.

Decided it was time to deal with it. Slung it over my shoulder & Habibi followed me down to the basement. He loves to "help" with laundry, it's very sweet. I filled the washer with hot soapy water (2 caps of Tide and a heaping scoop of Oxyclean: we had work to do) and opened the 'ole pack.

I started pulling out clothes and emptying pockets which were exploding with treasures: my missing Starlake ticket stub, quarters, melted pieces of gum, advils, lip gloss, lighters, stickers, a postcard from Nashville, beer caps, glow-stick bracelets, crumpled receipts, motel room key-cards... Various treasures from Phish tour, and links to their memories scattered out all over my basement floor one by one.

Satisfied that I'd separated the clothes from the trinkets, I began adding each t-shirt, tank top, and sundress to the washer. As I fed each outfit to the hungry machine, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. Ohhhh, there's my Deer Creek dress that survived the monsoon! My Bonnaroo outfit! The Keytar lot-shirt so lovingly made by my friends. The bandanna I used as a protection from the blazing Tennessee sun. Hey, there's the miniskirt I rocked at The Fox in St. Louis, and the lavender hoodie that snuggled me to sleep in the back seat of my brother's car on the night-drive to Starlake.

Each piece of clothing brought back a rush of memories of the last joyous time I'd worn it. When I finally closed the lid & set the dial to "Pre-wash: Extra Soak", I felt a little sad listening to all the sweat, love, tears, rain, mud, dancing, and fun churn together on its way down the drain. They were all covered in magic. Steeped in adventure. Now making Phish Tour Soup right in my very own washing machine.