Let’s jump right into the only story of the day for every
tween and teen in the Ridge
River district – the big
Christmas dance.
For Rowen and I, the fun started when Violet got home, and
we played dress-up together for nearly an hour before she drove all of us over
to the school. Mom played with us too,
and Ehlana supervised; so Dad and Ethan did their own thing while we were
busy. Since we had our dance, and Mom
and Dad are going to the Christmas party at Sheldon’s on Saturday night; they
weren’t doing the usual dinner and a movie this week, and it was going to be a
work night in the office instead.
Violet was sure that I need to get out more often when I
suggested that staying home for that might be more fun than dealing with the
expected tween weirdness at the dance.
She’s probably right about that, but then I wasn’t wrong about the weird
either. I only need to give one example
to prove my point – there were several comedians and comediennes armed with
mistletoe; and they were not afraid to use them.
Were attempts made to set me up? Yes.
Did they succeed? No – I was
prepared, and stayed far away from Michael.
I didn’t escape from having to kiss Dillon and Jake, but that’s
different; and Rowen and I both had fun getting teased about kissing Violet’s
and Stephanie’s boyfriends. They were
the only boys I danced with tonight too, and I again made sure that neither of
those dances happened when passing me off to Michael was an option. Fortunately for me, Lisa had him dancing with
her for nearly every slow song except for one dance he had with Stephanie.
I am glad that Rowen and I went to the dance, since we did
have fun hanging out with Rebecca and a few other single girls. Even the ongoing boy-girl weird was mostly
entertaining for us, and we all danced our butts off during all of the up-tempo
sets. Rebecca danced with a couple of
boys too not including the spin Jake took her out for, but though she
definitely has some guys interested in her; she still isn’t looking for a next
boyfriend yet.
Reverse that for Rowen, with the added issues of extreme
shyness and the fact that ‘her’ guy seems to be happily hooked up with another
girl; and the weird for her was also tough to watch and very annoying. Helping her with that was a bit tougher for
me while we were hanging out with Rebecca and the other girls, but we went for
a couple of walks when she needed the time away from the dance; and we just
tried to stay busy the rest of the time so she wasn’t just sitting around with
nothing else to think about. The roving
mistletoe sure didn’t help her out with this – especially since our classmates
were very enthusiastic with their responses every time they were caught under
one of the mistletoes.
Yes, Michael and Lisa were caught under the mistletoe
several times too – as were most of the couples; and even some of the teachers
and chaperones. No, Aunt Leanne, that
didn’t bother me at all; and I’ve mentioned more than a few times that I
appreciate the fact that nobody can realistically play matchmaker with me when
he’s paired up with another girl. Now
that I think about it, I should really get a special little Christmas gift for
Lisa to thank her!
Moving away from that, if only a bit, I’d like to mention a
few nuggets of information that I picked up tonight for our Magi Project. We know the number of Magi varies each year,
and the generational total has, necessarily, declined as a percentage of the
total population; but I think that trend is going to change soon. Why?
Because I noticed tonight that, while there aren’t any more teen Magi
now than there were ten or fifteen years ago; this group of teens are
collectively stronger than their parents’ and grandparents’ generations. Ditto that for the latent group – they are
almost all at the high end of the scale.
That is going to make the potential for the next generation very
interesting; and probably isn’t a coincidence considering the approaching
Ascension of the Light.
Ethan, Ehlana, and I don’t attempt to see everything about
the future in Witch Falls, and I’m not sure how the council will handle things
if we start having more Magi children – especially if many of them are born to
non-Magi parents. There really aren’t
that many kids like Rowen or Violet, and it’s not a big deal to have them spend
extra time with a grandparent or cousin; but that could be very different if
there were dozens of kids and teens in that situation all at the same
time. It’s definitely something that we
– and the council – might want to think about and be ready to handle if it
happens.
The other part of Magi teen relationships that I wanted to
mention is something that I’ve been gathering a bit of information on here and
there for a while now. Without writing
about anything I shouldn’t in this journal, the Magi teens have a strong tendency
to bond with a partner fairly early and quickly – or, like Dad and Aunt Leanne;
they don’t find a match until they’re older.
I should add ‘if they find one at all’; since there are adult cases
around town where the Magi either never married, or weren’t really a match with
the person they did marry.
Maybe that’s what Aunt Leanne’s worried about for me, but
I’m sure that Uncle Adam is glad that she didn’t find her match young, and by
the time I open this archive up for others to read; she’ll know that she didn’t
need to worry about me. Yes, I could
save myself some grief by just telling her what Ethan, Ehlana, and I see of
that part of our futures, but I’d rather stay in denial as long as possible;
and that’s just one of many things she doesn’t need to know about our future.
Getting back to the dance, the only difference in the music
tonight was the addition of a healthy dose of Christmas songs, and while we
weren’t exactly rockin’ around the Christmas tree; most of that was fun
too. It rained off and on all night, so
Rowen’s Dad picked us up at a bit after eleven, and though the dance was still
going on; we’d had enough, and were ready to go. We had a bit of company leaving then too, but
most of the teens would stay until the end; and Dillon, Jake, Stephanie, and
Violet were all staying late to help with the clean-up.
Mom and Dad were still up when I was dropped off, and were
watching a Christmas movie and snuggling in the living room. We did the dance recap there while watching
the end of the movie; and then we all went up to bed by midnight. It took me a while to get ready for bed, and
I’ve been playing on my computer and winding down since then. Violet and Dillon got home at a bit after
one, and are in the living room, but since they’ve just got tonight together;
I’m leaving them alone. They won’t be
sleeping anytime soon, but I’ve got a work day ahead, and a gang of kids here
for the night while our parents are busy playing at Sheldon’s; so I’d better
just wrap this up and get some sleep.
Say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.
“Goodnight, Cassie.”
