Marcie had cold and rainy weather for her birthday, but that didn’t keep us from having fun at school and then at her party.
I hadn’t been to Marcie’s home before, and hadn’t spent much time with anyone else in her family. Rowen and I were right about Marcie’s best friends all wanting to spend a lot of time talking about boys, and though we were having fun playing too, I mostly tuned that out, and spent some time watching Marcie and her family; and thinking about how they fit into our little town.
There aren’t really any poor people in Witch Falls or even in the Ridge River area, but there’s still a big difference between families like mine and Marcie’s. Even Rowen would likely think that my perspective on this is a bit warped, not to mention that they’d think I was nuts to even be thinking about things like this at a birthday party; but she, and they, would be wrong. I’ve spent most of my life on the run, and Mom and I have spent more of those years living sparsely than like we do now; so I do have a fairly diverse set of experiences to draw on. Except for the running and hiding from the Hathornes, those years were all really good for us; and that’s one of the things that so strongly affects my perception and perspective now.
One of the things that Mom pointed out to the Magi Council was the economic and social disparity that was primarily drawn nearly exclusively along Magi and non-Magi lines. That wasn’t black and white by any means, since even the original Magi families usually had many more non-Magi members than Magi. (My new extended family is probably as good an example of that as any) Her early assessment of Witch Falls was that, if anything, the Magi Council intentionally keeps both the Magi and non-Magi from reaching their true potential – mostly because of their primary goal of protecting the secrets of the Magi.
My party-time musings today were mostly about how to change that, and help everyone in town reach that collective potential while keeping everyone safe and happy; and not losing the things that make Witch Falls so special. The way things are now, we could reasonably divide everyone into just a few groups. Virtually all of the Magi stay in town for most of their lives, regardless of the opportunities available to them here – or more specifically, the lack of them. Many of the best and brightest non-Magi are part of the group that moves away primarily because of that same lack of opportunity. Aunt Carrie and Uncle Duncan are perfect examples of that group, and that doesn’t even consider the lost potential of what their kids and grandkids could have contributed to Witch Falls. I’d say that Marcie’s family falls into the group of non-Magi that love our home and are happy with the life they have here; willing to accept the trade-off between what they might be able to gain living somewhere else for what they love most about their home.
Ethan, Ehlana, and I know that this is going to change, but we really do only know some of the details. There is definitely a gap in what we see of the future when it comes to the non-Magi; and we’ll need to think about that a lot to make sure that we include opportunities for everyone in our plans. The really great thing about that is knowing that with our family business resources; the possibilities for doing that are virtually endless.
Getting back to the party, we played games until dinnertime; followed the meal up with the delicious angel food cake that Marcie’s mother made for her; and she opened her presents before we wrapped up the party with a little girl chat time that was definitely not the highlight of the party for about half of the girls; including Marcie, Rowen, and me.
I was ready for an early night by the time I got home, but Mom wanted to do a lesson with me, and then advised me that it was time for me to do a bit more work in the archives than I’d been doing over the past couple of months. Fun, wow – NOT! After my lesson, Ethan and Ehlana wanted the birthday party report; so I did that while Mom nursed them, and then I helped with the diaper changes and putting them to bed before being set free for a little pre-bedtime Jacuzzi action.
My plans to be sleeping early tonight didn’t work out; and it’s heading toward midnight now. I did get caught up on my email, did the nightly entertainment check, and am about to put a wrap on this journal entry. I shouldn’t bother worrying about losing a little sleep. With a heavy dose of archive studying in my future for the next few weeks; I’ll probably be having little naps on a daily basis!