I do not exist

I saw Marie first. Lovely as always, she draws the eye whenever she's in the room.

"You have a painting of you in your attic that's getting older, don't you?" I asked. With her was Mark, his brother, Doc was there, and I believe this was when I first met Heath, as well as Michael and Kim.

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Luckily, I'd installed both the Uber and Lyft apps on my phone before the trip, although I'd never used either before. Lyft was significantly cheaper, and after a few minutes my ride had arrived. We drove towards the airport, leaving faint cries of "WINDSHIELD!" behind.

Once again, my day started early, this time at 3 am, and I already regretted not taking the previous day off work. My journey to the airport passed without incident, as did I through airport security once it opened. Traveling without baggage has its advantages!

I'd packed slightly differently this time, managing to make room for a second shirt for the second day of this trip. I'd also carefully selected a few items to be autographed, and made sure I had a backup battery charger for my phone.

I'd selected a number of writings to give to Marian, and a few other odds and ends as well. For now, with a little time to kill, I purchased a massive coffee and took a seat on the observation desk, empty at this hour. I had a few things grinding through my head that I needed to get on paper, so for the next half hour or so, I nursed my coffee and scrawled in my notebook with my pen.

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Just then, the band started to arrive ...

I started the line at the security checkpoint around 3:15. The gates opened at 3:30, and by 3:45 I was on my way to my gate. My flight was scheduled to leave at 5:08 am, and would take two hours to reach Charlotte, once again. Hopefully, Charlotte would be more kind to me this time. 

On the flight from New York to Charlotte, the woman beside me wore a big fluffy sweater, and big, well-filled jeans. So while my right arm was sweltering, she also managed to continually sit on my leg. She also hogged the arm rest. I'm far from a small man myself, but I felt buried. Luckily, I managed to sleep a bit, which made the flight pass more quickly.
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The night was far from over, and the best was still to come.

My day started at 2 a.m. I'd packed the day before; because I wasn't sure what I was going to be allowed to bring into the venues, everything I was taking was in a 10'x10" shoulder bag. It was packed tightly, without any room to spare!

I didn't want to chance missing my 5 a.m. flight. I parked at the off-site parking lot, and they had me shuttled to the air port by 3:00 am.

When the tours were announced, I'd bought tickets to the first two shows announced, San Jose and Houston (I believe). When the next three shows were announced, I agonized over the decision of which, if any, I should tried to make it to. I finally realized I couldn't make a decision because I didn't want to make a decision - I wanted to attend all the shows! So I planned out a flight path, bought my tickets, and then debated if I was crazy with myself. Two weekends; Five cities; Five nights; Five Shows; One band.

Now, I felt excited, yet worried. Decades had passed since I last had an adventure like this, where I had a plane ticket and nothing else planned. Adventures that were easy when I was 32 might be impossible now that I'm 47, and nearly died a few years previously to boot. I didn't know if I could do this now.

But I knew I'd hate myself if I didn't try.

The security checkpoint finally opened at 3:30, and I passed quickly through, even though I forgot to empty my pockets and ended up slowing down the procedure some.

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Once at the airport, I found a bench with a power outlet, plugged in my phone, and tried to rest for a couple of hours. I napped fitfully, but by 3 am I was fully awake once more, and lined up at the security check point once more. The next step of my great adventure was about to happen, and I was ready for it.

Even though I did still smell faintly (I hoped) like a wet dog.