Member-only story
Featured
Bad Luck With Billie Eilish
Two of the three of us finally saw her live. December 5, 2024 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
Billie Eilish kick-started her first of two Seattle shows at Climate Pledge Arena with a soft question that hit me hard:
“It seems like we feel pretty good. Am I right?”
The crowd went wild. Like, I’ve never heard such a shrill, earsplitting communal shriek as I heard from Billie’s fans, my eldest daughter and friends contributing to the auditory mayhem. Normally I’d be screaming along, but tonight I smile wistfully from my seat instead.
I’m feeling okay tonight — and thrilled to be at the show — but not quite pretty good. I’ve had a horrendous cough for over a week. I still feel really run down, even as I know how lucky I am to be on the mend enough to make the show.
My youngest child? She isn’t so lucky.
Seven hours earlier my phone rang, my youngest child’s name and image displayed on the screen. It’s a Thursday, so she’s calling from high school, where she’s a freshman.
“I don’t feel good. Can I come home?”
Oh no. I pick her up and she looks a bit weary but otherwise okay, and the thermometer confirms: no fever. “Go rest,”…