Exhausted. Running on fumes. That’s my status for today. I’ve been living out of a suitcase (a small carryon, in fact) for 18 days. Never more than two nights in any single place. That one’s on me; I didn’t think about how hard that would be and didn’t know what would happen at the end of the Europe trip.

So to recap, I originally planned to fly back to Socal on the 6th, giving me three days to recover until going to LA for the Rush concert. Then I decided I wasn’t comfortable waiting until mid-July to see my brother again, as sick as he was, and changed plans to swing through Nashville on the way west. On the day we were flying back into the states, I heard from my brother that he would prefer to not have company that weekend, and he asked me to delay my visit. I wasn’t happy – a lot of effort had gone into the travel changes – but I had to honor his request. I pinged him once more gently when we were in Nashville for a night (his place is 2.5 hours east of Nashville), but no go. So we drove off to Louisville for a quick visit with the grandsons and a check on the construction work at the Louisville house.

That all went fine. We got to Louisville on Sunday the 7th, visited family and got ready to head to Socal on the 8th or 9th. Then on the morning of the 8th we got word that my brother had died. I’ll never know exactly why he waved us off a visit on the 7th, but at this point I suppose it doesn’t matter.

For 24 hours I agonized over the next steps. Stay in KY for a TBD funeral date? Go west as planned? Attend the Rush concert? Ultimately I decided to carry through with the plan to head west early on the 9th, hustle home (an hour+ north of the SD airport), then head for LA with my friend Tracy to the Rush show. Celebrate life while you can. And a big factor was that Don was a Rush fan just like me, and I think he would have wanted me to go. Loud music and golf were two passions we shared. Tracy and I toasted him multiple times, a mini-wake, and it was fine. Though exhausting. The 9th was a 21 hour day culminating in a three hour Rush extravaganza.

I’ll have to say the Rush show was spectacular – they haven’t missed a step or a note. Geddy and Alex were honoring their own fallen family member, Neal Peart. And the music – you could feel it deep in your chest. Here’s a couple of pictures from it. We were 12 rows back on the floor.

Next up – 2.5 days of rest, then a rapid trip to TN and back Saturday-Monday for the funeral service. And here’s a picture of a younger, happier Don. The way I want to remember him.