Off into the big bad world

Maybe I was just tired.

So emotions always get more intense, don't they?

Drummer boy is off into the world.

We drive to the airport, and I go through the long list of things that could go wrong in my mind.

We sing to his favourite tracks and hope that his small midi keyboard won't get crushed in the ryan air hold.

He is going to Aberdeen for a 10 week internship. We have tried to disguise a 6 ft 4 spindly rock star as an office worker, so his bag is full of sensible trousers and shirts.

He sits next to me in his usual extravagant garb and I wonder whether he will ever wear any of them.

He is brimming with youth and excitement and promise and all the wonder of a life ahead that could go anywhere, do anything...

There is something so touching about the unwritten page.

I drop him off at the airport.

I feel strangely happy and sad at the same time.

I turn the music up loud in the car and my favourite radiohead track comes on smart shuffle and I sob self indulgently for a little while...