Photo by Daniela Glunz

On Friday the 13th of September, Vincent had his first day at school. In Germany they celebrate the first day at school big time. My first day at school in the Netherlands was not that big a deal. I actually don't remember much at all.

There was only one problem, and that was that I already had confirmed my shows with Ayreon, before knowing that Vincent would go to school the next year. We were still debating to let him stay at the Kindergarten one more year. We had this option, because his birthday is on the 2nd of October. Children born until the end of September have to go, and those who are born later, can chose.
Soon we found out that the Kindergarten was not challenging enough for him so we decided that he would go to school the next year.

When I found out that the first day of school would be when I would be in the Netherlands with Ayreon and Oli in the US with Kamelot, I panicked. This was a day where I had to be home, no matter what. Since the Netherlands is closer, it was more realistic for me to go home, even though it was still quite a big distance.

On the 12th of September, I had rehearsals with Ayreon until 22.00.  On the 13th the school ceremony would start at 9.00. There were no flights in that time, so my only option was to drive with someone from Tilburg to Stuttgart and then the next day back to Tilburg. I even contemplated on getting a little tourbus. It was important for me to sleep on both drives up and down.

In the end I found someone who was willing to help me out. We left on the 12th at 22.30, I was in bed at 4.00, woke up at 7.00, attended the ceremony at 9.00 and was back on the road at 12.30 and arrived at the 013, one hour before the show.
During both rides, I didn't get any sleep. I was exhausted, but so happy that I was there for Vincent's big day, even though it was just for a couple of hours. I made sure that I made a lot of videos and photos of his special day.

In Germany the kids get this huge bag filled with small gifts, it is called a 'Schultüte', that was also something that I as a Dutchie was not familiar with. A friend of mine helped me out putting that bag together with the help of a glue gun and some alcohol haha. I didn't want to buy one, but make one of my own. I cursed myself for that, but luckily I have great friends who help me out :)

The Ayreon show on the 13th went well and I slept like a baby that night.

A special thanks to Paul for helping me out! I am so grateful that things worked out in the end.


The things we do for our kids, right?