Wellyversary

Last night I celebrated my five years in Wellington with a gig at the limiest-green dive bar in Wellington, where the owner happens to be a friend of a friend and where I see shows all the time. I’ve been planning this for months, referring to it as my Wellyversary: two friends’ bands played, some circus friends did hula hoop and contortion acts, and I finally got to debut my song. I wore a purple silk dress and custom-made gold glitter shoes, and two other friends made me a lemon-and-chocolate cake in the shape of a Buzzy Bee.

I took a half-day at work yesterday and was feeling pretty calm, having already packed for the US (my flight leaves in three hours) and cleaned the house, etc. I even took a pre-show bath, and was feeling pretty proud of myself when the clock hit six and sound check (sound check!) was at seven and all of a sudden I lost my mind and sent a flurry of freaked out texts (“I hate my voice! I hate my song! Everyone hates me AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!) and remembered I hadn’t got plates and forks for the cake and it was pouring down rain and everyone was sick and couldn’t come at the last minute and I thought this was the worst idea I’d ever had in my life.

But that’s how I do, sometimes—like I will get all wide-eyed and panicky and over-talkative but then I will just get my act together and go. I called Daniil to take me to New World for plates and to drop at the bar because it was still pouring down rain, and I remembered to bring not only a cake-cutting knife but also all the complicated components of my outfit (patterned tights, grandmother’s cameo necklace, flower headband). One of the bands was already there when I showed up and I got to feel very cool and in-crowd, which actually is not that difficult when the band is comprised completely of people you already adore. My own bandmate Jez showed up wearing his unicorn-applique jeans, which have to be seen to be believed, and Megan not only brought the glitter shoes but also put some makeup on me. Alice wore her sparkliest dress, at my request. Theresa and Amber texted me from Melbourne and Edinburgh, respectively, to wish me a good night. I was afraid that no one would show up, but people showed up, from all parts of my life. And–I still can’t believe this happened–not one but two friends came all the way down from Auckland, totally by surprise—I must have stared and shrieked at David for a full five minutes, and then when Ed walked in, just casually, no big deal, I just sort of looked at him like, “WHAT is HAPPENING?”

I got to sing backup on two of Jez’s song in the first set, one with Sophie and one with Rachel; the hula hooper and contortionist were delightful and amazing; everyone loved the cake. I talked to everyone—not enough—but got lots of hugs and compliments on my dress. I felt very nervous about my song but everyone said it would be fine, and then it was time for us to play, and I talked too much for a couple of minutes, which I guess is a natural consequence of my being given access to a microphone and a stage, and then we sang it, and my heart was beating really really fast, and it went very quickly, and I couldn’t see anyone in the audience but I could hear them laughing and singing along, and then I stepped off the stage and shook for about ten minutes straight, and then Sophie Rex went on again and we danced around like happy fools for the rest of the night.

And now I am getting on the plane to go to the States, in about three hours. It seems completely unreal, that soon (well, in a couple of days) I will be in California, and I will be in Seattle, seeing people I haven’t seen in three years. A couple weeks after that I will be in Florida with my family—it’s hard to imagine right now, like I wonder if we will all even recognize each other. I’ll be gone for a month—and now it’s Wellington I’m gone from, now it’s America I visit.

I didn’t think much about that last night, though, other than to say, when anyone asked, “Oh yeah, I’m leaving for America tomorrow—but just for holiday! I’ll be back!” I can’t imagine not coming back here, now, not after these five years, not after all these good times in Wellington, city of my heart.