Poppy

1995 - Poppy just finished her senior year in high school in small town IL. Feeling restless and a bit aimless, she finally convinced her mom to let her go with her girlfriend on Grateful Dead tour for the summer. She had saved up for college, and even was enrolled at the community college for the fall, but she really didn’t have much interest in it.

Feeling like a full-on adult, she and Sarah got in Sarah’s 1988 VW Jetta and started their adventure and Poppy’s life changed. The people they met, the places they saw, the music they heard; she couldn’t imagine a more perfect existence. Their saved money came and went, and to get enough gas money, they started selling kind veggie burritos in the parking lot before each show. They were a part of something bigger than themselves, part of a family that accepted them just as they were.

They were up and down the east coast and ended at Soldier Field in Chicago. Poppy was still high on life after seeing the show outside of St Louis a couple days before when they heard the most beautiful playing of ‘Eyes of the World.’ She felt they were singing right to her heart when they sang the line, ‘Sometimes we live no particular way but our own.’ It was the quote she used in her senior yearbook. Poppy was determined to live her life that way.

The shows at Solider Field did not disappoint, and then Poppy had the rest of July home and get a job. While she sat at the local ice cream shop, she dreamed of the next tour, the next time she could escape this small town and join her on the road family. She was learning to sew to make some sweet looking festival dresses and add a couple more ingredients to her burritos.

Then August 9th hit. It was a regular morning getting ready to deal with the snot nosed kids that came to get ice cream when she heard the news. Jerry had died.

What??? How??? Why???

What was she supposed to do now?

For days, she wept, feeling her life was done. That was until Sarah mentioned that Phish was starting their fall tour out in California. Huh. Maybe.

She could try it.