My Life with the Lepps

Birthdays in Funky Town

A few hours later, Viv comes and saves me. I run into his arms and say, "I thought you'd never come!!" Viv says "What do you mean? You're my woman and I love you! Of course I would come and rescue you!!" Sav just laughs and says "I was just kidding around!!!"  I scream "Yeah right Sav!!!!! You're being a shit!!! You can't have any of my turtle cheesecake either!!!!" Joe says "Well can I have some too? I've been a good boy!!!" Sav leaves and is gone for a while. He comes back with some Dairy Queen. He gets me an extra large chocolate malt! And there's all kinds of other stuff that he comes back with. he says "I'm sorry for being a big asshole, Ori. Please accept my apology." Stuart whines and licks Sav's foot. "Here, Stu." Sav puts a bowl of ice cream in front of Stuart and he goes nuts!!! Sav also gets some sandwiches and there's also an ice cream cake, which Stuart tries to eat. I call Stuart and he runs to me and sits next to me. Viv goes to cut the cake and Stu gets the first piece. Later, Viv hears me silently singing along to a song on my iPod. I'm playing keyboards while singing. Soon, Candace takes over on keys, I grab a mic, and we're all playing Crush by David Archuleta. Then Viv comes out singing the second verse. A little later, I notice Viv's looking at a picture of us and singing. "What were you singing baby?" He smiles and takes my hand. When we reach the stage, everyone starts playing Jesse McCartney's Beautiful Soul. Viv sings to me and I feel like I'm falling under his spell. We look into each other's eyes and see our soul in both of our eyes. Viv says "We are one." I say "You are my Irish Prince!!!! I will love you forever all the way til the end of time, even when the universe continues to exist and we are energy in the universe!!" Viv looks at me and says "I love you more!!!!" He points up at the sky and says "Look Ori, the stars are dancing with excitement and joy!!! They know that we love each other!!" He then says "Listen closely, they're playing our song!!!!" He sees me look over at my guitars. Viv says "Steve wants you to carry on the legacy!!!!! You can do it!!!!" I go out shopping with Viv and we look for an identical guitar to Steve's. We find and buy the last two in the whole store. "I'm gonna give one to Phil. Today's his birthday and I didn't get him anything." I laugh. We head home and I leave the guitar out for Phil to find. He sees it, opens the case and starts to cry. He says "Thank you, Ori!!!! Now I can have a guitar like Steve's!! I am very grateful that you bought this for me!!!!!" Both me and Viv hug him and say "Phil we both love you!!!" we all sit on the big patio/deck. Candace brings all her notebooks of material in her big purse. Joe picks it up and say "Damn Candace! what the hell do you have in here?" I say "Well, she has new material that her and I collaborated on, some stuff with Phil and Sav." Joe says, "Really? Let's see all of it Candace and Ori. Is this why you two ladies always stay up late when I've told you both that it's time to go to bed?" I say "Joe, we're both adults!!!! And when we can't sleep it's because one of us gets an idea and we have to write it down. One night we couldn't sleep so we went out to the kitchen for a snack and a cup of tea and Phil and Sav were up. They asked what are you two doing up. I said we can't sleep there's this idea swimming around in my head and Candace couldn't sleep either, so Phil and Sav said sit down and tell us your idea!" Joe says "Well, let's hear it!!!" So we get set up..Phil and Sav are on their guitars, Rick's on the drums, Viv's there, of course, on his guitar. I'm on mine and Candace is on the keyboard. Viv does the lead vocals.

A FEW MONTHS LATER...

All of a sudden, I hear someone screaming in Swedish and burst out laughing. "Uncle Joey!!!!" I run into his arms. He starts yelling at me in Swedish. I look at him like "Yo, what's your problem?" We all laugh as Viv screams the first line of Circle of Life from Disney's The Lion King. "Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba!!!!" I look at Viv like he's crazy, but soon we're all singing, even Joey. I soon take over on lead vocals and after Tommy and JY (the two guitarists in Styx) bring out a chocolate birthday cake. Viv looks at me and says, "Close your eyes." I close my eyes and wait. Eddie Money comes out and Viv says "Okay open them!!" I open my eyes and scream. "Viv, I love you!!!!!!" I look at my shirt and realize I have my Eddie Money shirt on. "Can you sign my shirt?" I ask. Eddie signs my shirt as the guys and Candace start playing 'Walk on Water'. I run behind my drumkit and start pounding out 'Funky Town'.  Viv and Phil play guitar, Sav's on bass and Candace is on keys. Then we decide to play Greg Kihn Band's 'The Breakup Song.' Then Phil sings 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica. Then Joe, Viv, Rick, Sav and Phil play 'Caught Up in You' by 38 Special. Viv looks right at me as he sings. Later, we all head outside and Joey jumps off the diving board. "CANNONBALL!!!!!!!!" He screams. I "accidentally" trip Viv into the pool. He says "Why did you do that for????" I shrug. "I was bored." After we get out and dry off, Viv sees me sitting alone outside. "You hold the key to my heart baby. I love you." We all relax by the pool and share jokes. Soon, it's almost time for our show that night. I get ready and I have tons of time left over so I dance to 'Rock the Night' by Europe, off The Final Countdown album. Joey sees me and joins me. we start screaming the lyrics every time the chorus comes up. At the show, Joe calls me out since it's my birthday. I say "What!!!!! What did I do this time? What didn't I do?" Joe says "What makes you think you did anything?" The crowd starts to sing when Helen and Lauren bring out a birthday cake. I stand in shock, then the Whitesnake guys, David Coverdale, Tommy Aldridge, Reb Beach, Joel Hoekstra, and Michael Devin, come on stage. I'm like "Wow!!!! For me?" Joe says "Well you're the only Ori here!!!!" I smile big. "Thank you, you guys!!! I love you all!!!"