It’s probably official now – I’ve become small-town!
That realization came thanks to a quartet of glances from a quartet of girls at the Mall. They were about the same age as Rowen and I; and apparently our enthusiasm at the start of our shopping adventure was ridiculous to cool city kids. I’m only mentioning this in my journal because Rowen and I actually paid attention to those glances and overheard the quiet snide comments and snickers; and talked about it later. Rowen really didn’t like that we were being made fun of by those girls, but I advised her that there’s probably no way for me to ever turn down the enthusiasm when I’m getting to spend a whole day with my family and best friend; doing one of our very favorite activities. Since this may be an early warning sign of impending crossing-over, though, I do hope that Rowen won’t have to temporarily pretend that she doesn’t know me if she moves up to the next level without me.
If those girls had seen us when we met up with Violet, I probably would have been laughed at some more. Okay, so I’m almost eleven, and probably should cut back a bit on the bouncing; but everyone would be happier if there were more and better hugs in the world (I know you’re thinking it Aunt Leanne; but don’t go there again, or I’ll start locking all of my archive journals for ten or twenty years).
Getting to the news of the day; the shopping was a blast. Rowen and I got to spend a lot of time with Violet – especially when the six adults wanted us out of the way while they did some gift buying that they didn’t want us to know about for some reason. That worked for us; since we all had some Valentine’s Day shopping to do too, along with the gifts that Rowen and I wanted to pick up for some of our friends’ upcoming birthdays. Helping Violet with picking up Dillon’s Valentine’s gift was the most fun, and we had all of that done by the time we met for lunch in the food court with the parents, aunts, uncle, uncle-to-be, and the twins.
After getting our fast food fix, it was time for a little clothes shopping that the guys in our group set their favorite girls free to do while they found something else to do for a couple of hours. Violet was able to shop with us until three o’clock; and then Dillon, Jake, and Stephanie finally made it to the city after working the lunch shift at the Inn. We all met with them near the Mall entrance where we’d all parked our vehicles, and after saying goodbye to Violet; Mom, Aunt Leanne, and Aunt Deborah decided that it was time to head over to Wal-Mart for our supplies run before we stopped for dinner.
We ended up hitting a Home Depot too, and Rowen and I mostly entertained Ethan and Ehlana at both stores while six of our favorite adults took care of the boring part of our shopping trip. Aunt Leanne might have preferred another fast food meal, but the guys all wanted to sit down and have real food instead; so it ended up being nearly eight-thirty by the time we were on the road for home. That was a fairly quiet trip; mostly because Ethan and Ehlana slept most of the way, so Mom, Dad, Rowen, and I tried not to wake them up by talking back and forth between the front and back seats.
Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Aunt Deborah, and Nick had taken Dad’s truck to the city so we’d have enough storage space; so everyone came back to our place first. Rowen and I helped Mom with Ethan and Ehlana while Dad had lots of help to unload our things and get them into the house. Patricia helped out with that a bit when she walked over to get Rowen; and then they both stayed for a little visit with Mom after the twins were fed and tucked in for the night, and Dad had gone to help with the deliveries to Aunt Deborah’s and Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s houses.
When Rowen left, I was sent up to bed too; but I’ve been playing in my Jacuzzi, and on my computer, since then. That’s included a late night chat with Violet after she got home from her date with Dillon; and an archive study session while I waited to wind down enough to sleep. My reading was temporarily interrupted when I needed to get out of the Jacuzzi and eventually snuggled in bed with Many; and then I worked through a very detailed Healing study that had taken the Magi at the time several decades to complete.
I don’t really have any plans for Sunday. Mom and Dad both plan on working in the office, and Rowen will be busy with a family day; so I’ll probably just help out by watching Ethan and Ehlana while Mom and Dad are busy. Now that I think about that, I should really get some sleep to be ready to keep up with my little brother and sister, so...
...live from Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off!