Misbehaving Thumbs

I am having a day where an ordinary task like leaving a message on a friends voicemail feels challenging. I’m not in a bad mood, I’m not even having a bad day, I’m just having trouble doing normal things. I’m blaming it on allergies.

I just walked off the stage from playing what probably appeared to be an average set with no big surprises. There are nights it comes out easy and starts to feel like it’s not even me singing. And then there’s tonight where I take a drink of water between each song and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m thirsty or because I need that 2 seconds of swallowing to collect myself. I guess I’ll blame my allergies.

As Derek was going on stage I gave him a double thumbs up and said “knock em’ dead!” with some cheesy grin that came from the part of my brain I apparently have no control over. Knock em dead? I think I saw a confused grin as the door shut behind me and he walked down the stairs to sing. Confused because the normal exchange between his set and mine consists of a timid nod and a comment as to how the crowd was.

Derek: good crowd?
Alli: Yeah, good crowd.

No exclamation points, no high fives, certainly no thumbs up. When I find myself using the thumbs up (which is more than I care to admit) I know I’m having a weird day. Not bad, just weird. I’m sure Derek knew I was being sarcastically excited…but that is just it! I’m not even sure if I was being sarcastic! It sort of came out seriously. “Knock em’ dead!” and then the door shut and I was staring at my thumbs like they just sprouted noses and mouths and started sneezing.

It’s a good thing Nelson made me cookies tonight. I am about to eat my third. Thank you Nelson. And thank God I’m not allergic to chocolate.