Kathy

We landed in Providence, and the flight barely seemed to take a few minutes because Jennifer and I were hanging over our seats talking a good part of the way, and I got to baggage claim and saw these beautiful familiar faces...Nashville Kat and Randy! HUGS HUGS! And then here comes someone I had never met and she is looking overwhelmed and a little tired, and Kat said, "This is Nancy, Moss-E!" So, Randy and Kat and Mossy went outside to keep Marilynn (my taxi service) company in the illegal zone while Don and I retrieved bags (lots of them), said goodbye to Jennifer who was in the car rental line, and managed to get out there. MORE HUGGING GOING ON! MAL!!!! Don graciously took the backseat and later on, when we were talking about shuttling back to the airport on Monday, Don said, "Tell them our flight's at 11:00 so we get there in plenty of time." I'm like, "Well, it only takes what, 15 minutes to get from Newport to the Providence airport?" "NO DUMMY!" I mean, it just seemed like 15 minutes from the time Marilynn retrieved us until we got to the Jailhouse Inn. I knew this weekend was going to be one of those blink, it's gone things...and it was.

Don and I settled into our room and then started hoofing around the city. I kind of knew where I was because I had been there a couple of years earlier, but we just strolled around, had a beer at Mudville's. We got back to our room and someone knocked on the door. I'm seeing Don, at this point, rather wondering if he was going to be able to handle all my socializing! However, he did a very good job, had a great time, and is really into reading the board now so he can remember everyone ... anyway, it was NormaK ... we did that dancing around, hugging, squealing thing again, then settled down for some conversation. She went to get Mossy at HoJo's, eventually and brought her back to Yesterday's to meet up with me and Don before the Vampire Tour ... which was absolutely FUN!! We enjoyed that very much, just hanging out, hearing some history, seeing some sights (even if they WERE dead ones)...

And imagine my surprise, and happiness when we went back to Yesterday's for dinner and to meet Tracy and Bill and Cathi and Vicky, who had gotten in from the West while we were vampiring around the cemeteries, when a BUNCH of the HairHead contingency found us at Yesterday's and came to do the bar thing with us!!!! I was so thrilled and overwhelmed at seeing everyone ... those I knew and those I didn't! There were a few happy tears shed, and finally the waitress is like, "You don't ALL want to eat, do you?" LOL. Those of us who were there for dinner got a table and eventually there were HairHeads and Cowsills everywhere, everywhere! John came up and talked to us a little, with Dale. Before we knew it, Barry was up there with a very sweet, and I repeat this VERY SWEET Colin! What a nice bunch of kids these Cowsills have.

Okay, end of Friday? I think not. Don and I went back to the bed and breakfast. I had no sooner gotten ready to go to sleep when the phone rang and someone with a very, very strange accent informed me that there was someone in front of the Jailhouse, who needed to see me. Don's like, "Wait, you're not GOING, are you?" My mind is thinking it has to be someone I know of course I'm going. So I got dressed again and who did I find out front? SUSAN COWSILL!!!! I couldn't even believe she was standing there! MORE HUGGING AND ALL THAT ... So, I went back to the room, retrieved a tired Don, and away we went, back to Yesterday's where we finally closed the place down. What fun!

Saturday: What can I say about Saturday? My camp felt pretty bad after Friday night! LOL. But we got up and around and eventually all met up in the dining room for some breakfast. I guess probably one of the neatest things to me was getting up in the mornings and padding down to the dining room and meeting my best friends there ... that was kinda like it should be, you know? Thank you Cathi and Vicky and Tracy for sharing this with me! I mean, you know you're really good friends when you show up in sock feet or barefoot for breakfast after a night out on the town, looking the way I know I looked every morning and you guys still agreeing to having breakfast with me! LOL.

We were fast starting to realize that we were preparing for some Cowsill event we had never before witnessed, and we were getting a little excited about that. Cathi, Vicky, Tracy and I loaded into the huge truck that Vicky had rented (vbg) ... and drove to Middletown for the Richard Cowsill Sing-Along. It was GREAT! Richard is probably one of the most personable people I've ever met in my life. All the HairHeads met ... we had reunions and new meetings, swapped state T-shirts and followed Rich's and Eddie's leads. They led us through Indian Lake and Hair and several other songs, ending of course, with the signature song, Doo-Wah-Ditty ... WHAT A ROYAL BLAST we had there!!!

You know a neat thing? You can be thousands of miles from home, and walk into a room full of HairHeads, and know that you really ARE home ... I saw Eddie and Nancy in there, and Connie, all these people I knew, and was just blown away by the comfort and love and friendship!

The four of us had to make a Walgreen's stop for Tracy, who had to have a hair dryer, then off to Newport again where we met up with the guys who had been out together on foot, sightseeing while we were gone. We were starved and went to Mudville's for lunch. I think this might be where we had the "Guess Your Waiter's Name and Win ... Nothing" contest, which Vicky, I believe, won ... right everyone? He was even nice enough to take our picture at the table!

Before we knew it, we were heading for the Taste of Rhode Island events tent. We got seats there, and then started socializing, some more ... much to the dismay of the guys, I believe! I got to introduce Don to Bob, which was really cool ... got to talk to Robby for awhile and you didn't have to be a Cowsill to have pre-show jitters! I stood up there at the front and dared to look back ... I bet there were 1500 people crowded into that place, and all around it. I took my seat. I couldn't stand it. I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for these people.

The Rain, The Park and Other Things? Bob Cowsill. How many times did I ask you at the Pub if you were starting with that song and you said no? My throat got all closed off there for a minute, and I had to just put my head down. I was looking at Susan, John, Barry, Paul, Bob, Richard and Bill on that stage and my heart was doing all sorts of crazy things ... When they did We Can Fly I thought, "I can't stand this over-stimulation thing!" LOL. What a wonderful night. What a FAST night. Of course, we had the cops coming to try to shut the show down, and they were really funny about that. Bob said he was going to do one more loud song, then tone it down and do some unplugged stuff, which didn't fly at all, so eventually it was back to loud rock and roll and the police and fire department people turned their heads. Everyone knew how ridiculous it was that people were complaining about the noise!

Blink, blink ... shows over.

We tooled over the Narragansett Cafe where we heard Barry might play, and we hung out there for just a bit, but none of us from the Jail had eaten, so we eventually wandered down to Yesterday's for dinner. There were many Cowsills there, but of course, we all needed our privacy and time to come down a little after the music, so we just all retreated to our own corners and we (the seven of us, including Mossy) went on about the business of getting way too much alcohol into our systems before we ate anything, thus the new term now is "Karaoke Night At Yesterday's." Where the HairHeads sing the 70's hits whether you want to hear them or not. God, we had so much fun!! We played all the Pub covers we could find on the jukebox, and later learned that had American Pie been on there, the whole Cowsill group was going to make a gesture in our direction. I believe this was Robby's idea. :o)

Sleep a little...

Sunday: Sunday was a great day. Cool, cloudy, windy ... very New England in demeanor ... and we had a Meet The Cowsills breakfast to attend! What fun! We wandered down there, along the water again, mist rolling off the water, the boats looking so majestic, and we found the tent and grabbed lots of coffee and some chairs and proceeded to wait for the stars. Soon, they were all assembled there, and Richard became the master of ceremonies, bringing calm and order to the room. Eventually, the autograph line was set up, and we formed a line and collected autographs which was totally the neatest freaking thing in the WORLD!! I am such a fan! My heart was thinking, "Wow, if this had happened to me when I was 13, I wouldn't have been able to handle it!" The Cowsills are so polite, nice, fun, personable ... all of them. This became probably one of the most memorable events of the whole weekend for me.

We posed with the eight original marathoners, against a backdrop of the harbor, for many cameras, then the four of us who had made all the marathons posed again - it was like just a family reunion for US as well as the Cowsill family.

The Sunday afternoon shows were absolutely wonderful, again ... but I was starting to feel a little letdown already, knowing this was it. This was it. I don't know if The Cowsills had any idea they would be called back to the stage so many times. I have to tell you here, that there were some people sitting in front of me Sunday afternoon who thought I clapped too loudly. They left eventually. Every time a song would end, the guy would put his fingers in his ears, waiting for me to scream something like, "Yay," and applaud like a crazy person. I was thinking he should leave because I wasn't going to shut up, for sure, and he did eventually. But I don't know if The Cowsills thought they wouldn't get called back so many times or what, but they eventually had to sing Some Good Years.

Now, I had held up to this point, quite well. Shed no tears, until that song started and I glanced at the stage and thought what feelings that song must be invoking up there ... and saw a couple of good HairHead friends of mine, who have shared my entire life with me over the past few years ... and it was all over for me. The tears came, the show ended. My chest stopped aching about three hours later.

Narragansett Cafe again Sunday night after a good dinner at Yesterday's. I bet they were sick of Cowsills and HairHeads by now ... LOL. Bob played drums ... yes DRUMS. Of course, I loved that. Barry and Susan, Brendon and Bob ... Sly Rose, Heidi, Marilynn, Uncle Bob, Richard, and undoubtedly I am going to leave someone out here, entertained us until they finally asked us to close up shop and leave. I know that Don said that he and Bill were thinking, "Great, we'll have to go through all the goodbyes and hugging and tears again now..." But we did okay. We all said goodbye, we'll see you in January (?) ... hopeful. And promised another marathon in 2001. It was a bittersweet moment for the Jail People. Tracy, Bill, Don and I were leaving on a shuttle early Monday morning, leaving Vicky and Cathi behind, which was difficult stuff.

I sat in the Providence airport wondering if everything I was remembering had actually happened, or had I dreamt it. Then we stood up, Tracy and Bill went down one hallway, Don and I the other. None of us looked back.

This was probably one of the most memorable times of my life. I want to thank every Cowsill and every HairHead who made this possible!

Now, on to next year! Time to start planning ... you know how these things sneak up on you!