keep smiling

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good after a great night’s sleep

Finally

All was good until I went to talk

And couldn’t

So I’ve gone from having a dodgy voice, that just got me through last night’s show

To no voice at all

It’s not really a drama as far as the tour goes

Dad is more than capable of doing the show without me

It’s just frustrating

I think more so because I feel great

But my throat’s decided to pack up on me

Who knows, maybe I’ll find a magic witch doctor in Jabiru?

To give me a dose of miracle juice

Not THAT kind of miracle juice you lot

I don’t need my voice back THAT badly

So anyhoo,

It goes without saying, that today’s car ride has been a non-stop journey to hang shit on me ‘cause I can’t answer back

I’m getting a cramp in my middle finger from constantly giving these bastards them all the bird

.

As usual, we stopped for our morning ritual for brekky

Which was the first roadhouse we came across

.

We were met by this lady

This friendly, happy lady

Who I liked straight away

Once I read her name tag & saw her name was Jean, my Nanna’s name

It sealed the deal for me

I liked Jean

So we get to talking

And someone made a joke about marriage

And Jean joked that she would never trade her husband in

‘Cause after 40 years, she finally had him trained the way she wanted him

And Mum & Dad said, 40 years? We’ve been married 40 years too

When did you get married?, Jean asked

Mum answered, January 10th 1970

Oh my God, Jean said. That’s the date I got married

We all thought that was hilarious

Especially when Jean said her son was born 6 months after their wedding day

Just like my brother was

Mum asked Jean how many kids she had

Jean hesitated a little and I thought, oh God

‘Cause I’d seen that kind of look before, and I could see she was struggling to answer

She said, I had two kids

But my daughter and three grandchildren were killed last year in the bushfires

Sweet Jesus

And I swear in an intstant, we were all crying

No one knew what to say

What do you say?

Jean was trying not to fall apart as she showed us the photos of her daughter and 3 grand-babies she had in the gold locket she was wearing

Oh shit, I’ve started crying again just typing this

How do you even begin to recover from something like that?

And that’s what makes this lady, who 10 minutes ago was a complete stranger

That’s what makes her amazing

She’s smiling

There’s no doubt she’s struggling

But she’s smiling

I got up from my chair and hugged her harder than I think I’ve ever hugged anyone

I don’t know if it was to help her or help me

I’m not sure how to say it without sounding cheesy, but this chance encounter affected me

.

Me & my little sore throat will be fine

I may miss a gig or 2, and I’ll still be fine

.

Jean?

Jean is better than fine

There must be something about that name

‘Cause I know two Jeans

And they’re both inspirational

.

I’m so looking forward to Saturday night’s Darwin show

We’ve invited Jean, her husband & their son to come

Jean was so excited she jumped straight on the phone to call her son & tell him

She said he was going to be beyond thrilled

He’s Dad’s number one fan, she said

.

I’ve decided I am Jean’s number one fan