The day before Billie Eilish met the president of the free world, she gave a master class in self care on a stage in front of a few thousand screaming fans.

This show in Pittsburgh was one of the first stops on Eilish’s world tour for “Happier Than Ever,” the 20-year-old pop star’s second full-length album, which came out last year.

You see, in Julian’s mind, Billie Eilish is the leader of the free world.

My 15-year-old has been captivated by this singer, songwriter and L.A. native for several years now, so last year, when she announced her tour, I asked him if he wanted to go. 

Julian had been in the thick of the Zoom Gloom. An eighth grader who spent half of middle school slouched over his Chromebook, staring at black boxes and hiding behind one, Julian found joy in few things during those 18 months.

Except Billie Eilish. Her songs — moody testaments about being a teenager today — carried him through what I think has been the most difficult time of his life.

We have a tradition in our family that when you graduate from one school to another, you get to pick a trip to mark the occasion. Three years earlier, when he was leaving elementary school, we’d traveled to Mexico City, a pre-pandemic experience that felt even more special looking through a rear view lens smudged by a global quarantine. 

I told him to pick a city on her tour. Any city. “We’ll make a trip of it,” I told him.