This has been a busy, fun, and occasionally strange day.
Tai Chi with two second-floor hecklers trying to throw me
off while I exercised in Rowen’s back yard would qualify as strange. By the time I headed home to get started on my
chores after breakfast, Patrick and Scott had made sure that Rowen and I had more
than our fill of the strange and annoying.
I don’t really have much to report from the yard work part
of my day. Between our house and Uncle
Adam and Aunt Leanne’s place, we had lots of help to get ready for the Fourth
of July and the wedding weekend. Violet
worked with Mom all day, and Alicia worked a bonus morning shift too. Both sets of Proctor grandparents were
helping out too; and though the teens that were now taking care of Uncle Adam’s
lawn and gardens had already finished their work for the week; there had still
been nearly as much to do there as at our house. The only real break we took was lunch for
everyone at our house, but jumping into the river to cool off every now and
then happened fairly regularly.
The work part of my day – or most of it – was done by
shortly before four when I was sent off to get cleaned up and ready for the
welcome home dinner we were doing at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s for Aunt Grace,
Mark, and Mark’s parents. Mom, Violet,
and I tag-teamed getting cleaned up and changed while taking care of Ethan and
Ehlana too; and we all managed to be ready to go in about forty-five
minutes. Everyone else was already at
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s by the time we arrived; and Ethan, Ehlana, and I
were kept busy for a while with the welcome home hugs and kisses.
Aunt Grace was really busy, but that didn’t keep her from
finding a little time to tease me about Michael and picking her wedding for my
first date with him. I had advised her
about inviting Michael, and managed to get that news to her before Aunt Leanne
did; but she still seemed surprised.
Then again, she seemed even more surprised to find out that I’m only
about three inches shorter than she is now.
I have grown about an inch and a half since the last time we saw each
other the weekend we were visiting them in Granite Park,
but maybe she was just in denial while I was still four-foot-something tall.
Meeting Mark’s parents for the first time was fun. Dr. Aaron Everett is a very young-looking
sixty. His hair is as blonde as Aunt
Leanne’s, and he has very light blue eyes.
Mark inherited some features from both parents, but he and his father
are nearly the same height and build; and it’s easy to see that they’re father
and son despite the contrasts – like Mark’s black hair and steel-gray eyes. My main first impression of Dr. Everett
Senior is that he’s going to need some time and convincing before he’s going to
understand why his son has chosen to give up a successful, lucrative career and
move away from his family to our humble little town. He’s really nice, and as low-key and
unassuming as Mark is; but he’s having a tough time dealing with this change to
what his own life plans had been; so there’s a strong empathic undercurrent
that’s at odds to his outward demeanor that I’m sure Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I
can all sense.
Mark’s mother, Lorelei, on the other hand, was giving off
nothing but good vibes. I wouldn’t say
that he’s marrying a girl just like Mom, but there are some nice similarities
between Aunt Grace and her soon-to-be mother-in-law that go beyond the fact
that they’re almost exactly the same height.
Lorelei – Lori – has the black hair that her son inherited, and very
dark blue eyes. She’s as quiet and
gentle as her husband and son; was smiling every time I saw her; and earned the
twins’ seal of approval in under five seconds.
While her husband likes Aunt Grace despite his feelings about Mark’s
decisions; she obviously loves Aunt Grace.
Seeing them together definitely reminded me a lot of Mom and Grandma.
Since having a Jacuzzi-equipped guest bathroom was high on
her list of favorite surprises so far since getting to town was near the top of
her good things about Witch Falls list; I’ll guess that she’ll be a little in
love with Uncle Adam by tomorrow morning too.
Just kidding – she already loves Mark’s best friend.
We had a little spit of rain roll through while the main
course for dinner was still on the grill, but it didn’t last long; and our
outdoor dining plans didn’t need to be changed.
Since there was grandparent, aunt, and uncle support for Ethan and
Ehlana; Mom and Aunt Leanne put me to work before and after dinner. By the time everything was ready and we could
sit down to eat, we had a bit over an hour to relax and enjoy our meal before
needing to be up and running again so we could have the clean-up done in time
for Mom and Dad’s baseball game. There
really isn’t much to report from dinner.
We mostly traded family and home town stories with Mark’s parents; there
was some baby chat; and almost no mention of anything wedding-related.
Even though I really didn’t get to spend all that much time
with them, I’ve had the warm fuzzies going on all night; and I’m really happy
to have Aunt Grace and Mark home to stay – or at least they’ll be home to stay
after they get back from their honeymoon.
I also love seeing them so happy.
It’s not as if they’ve been miserable whenever they couldn’t be together
since they started dating; but that separation was probably harder on them that
what Violet and Dillon have gone through for the past couple of years. They could at least see each other every
couple of weeks without needing to make major travel plans.
Speaking of ‘home’, Aunt Grace and Mark love theirs – though
they aren’t being allowed to go inside until Uncle Blaine can be here to do
that with them. They’d done a
walk-around before we’d even gotten there, so I missed that; but I did get to
see the smiles on their faces every time they looked across the back yards
toward their new house.
Getting back to the news of the day, baseball was the next
entertainment event of the night; and the Fix-it Uppers were able to pull off a
come-from-behind win against Sheldon’s Big Shots. That hadn’t looked likely after we spotted
the Big Shots to a five-run lead in the top of the first inning, but we chipped
away at that lead while keeping pace with the additional runs being scored
against us; and finished the job off with the four runs in the bottom of the
seventh to earn the fifteen to fourteen win.
I don’t think that Mark’s parents were all that impressed
with the caliber of the baseball; but they did seem to enjoy the
extra-curricular action that was what most people found fun about the co-ed
games.
While going to Sheldon’s after the game had been an option
for the adults, and it still felt early to Mark and his parents while they
adjust from west-coast time; everyone decided to go back to Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne’s house and end the day with a comparatively quiet visit. Ethan, Ehlana, and I went along for that, but
we only stayed until eleven o’clock; and then Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma Mercy,
and Grandpa Duncan took us home; helped me to put the twins to bed; and then
left me in charge until Mom and Dad got back while they went home to bed too.
I’ve been working on my computer since then. Rowen and I had a little chat; there was some
family business email to deal with; and my usual nightly computer checks are
all done now too. It isn’t quite
midnight yet, and I’ll stay up until Mom and Dad – or Violet and Dillon – get
home; but there isn’t anything else to report from today. The non-news news is that I didn’t see
Michael at all today; and I wish that I had.
We were both just busy at the wrong times for each other today, and
except for when we’re at church; I’m sure it’ll be the same again tomorrow –
this is going to be a busy holiday week at the Inn.
We’re both going to be busy this week, but I hope we aren’t
going to have too many days where we don’t see each other much – and we should
definitely make time to practice our goodnight kisses. Since that wasn’t an option tonight, I think
I’ll go play my keyboard for a while. Maybe
that’ll distract me from thinking too much about moonlight kisses and Michael
until Mom and Dad get home and I can go to sleep – though I doubt it.
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
