Heirs of the Magi News Flash!

***Heirs of the Magi News Flash!*** Winter has, for the most part, been mild so far - or awesome for the month that Cassie and Michael spent in summertime-Australia! They are home now and will be working from home for most of the time until Easter. The hometown work will include getting ready for their next trip, but there will be a lot of fun to get in on and share with their favorite people - including their March Break trip to Florida adventure. All of your favorite Magi Masters will continue to work and play while their future plans unfold; so... ...Visit Witch Falls often to keep up with all of their latest stories; and Happy Reading!

Friday, July 5, 2013

Cassie's Journal - July 4, 2013



Happy Fourth of July! (Happy Un-Independence Day, Mom!)

This holiday has been one of my favorites since moving to Witch Falls; and today definitely qualifies as the best-on-ever so far!

We had a bit of rain roll through off and on overnight and early this morning, but that didn’t even get in the way of our Tai Chi; and the weather has been great since about eight-thirty or nine.  Breakfast was a wild event.  With the Inn closed for the day, all of our visiting wedding guests needed to be fed; and we had a total of thirty-six at our house for the meal.  Add in the work that needed to be done for our contributions to the food booths and to get everything ready for a day at the park; and the usual holiday crazy was several notches above anything I’ve experienced here so far.      

Being in the parade this year changed a few things too, the biggest being that I needed to be at the school early enough to help with the last bit of work that needed to be done on the trailer and truck we were using; including loading the large baskets of candy we’d be dipping into as we went along the parade route and tossed the treats to the spectators.

Even with everything I’d been doing at home for the nearly three hours since I’d gotten up, I was still ready to go before Rowen was; though that was mostly because she was having second and third thoughts about wearing one of her new biking shorts and top sets during the parade.  Owen looked like he was having second thoughts too, but for a completely different reason.  It only took me five minutes to convince Rowen to stick with plan ‘A’, and five more for some hair enhancements that Patricia helped me with; and then we were on our way to the school to meet up with Michael and Tim.  They were already working around the trailer, and I may need to transfer that photographic memory moment to digital file some day; because the expressions on their faces were priceless when they saw us.

I can also assure you that Michael had a fairly strong reaction to my outfit when we shared a little good morning hug and kiss too.

We all needed to finish getting everything ready, and we had time to run through our trick repertoire once before it was time for Tim’s Dad to get the truck and trailer lined up and in the spot we’d been placed for the parade between one of the VIP classic cars and a fashion show float that Palmers was sponsoring.  That gave us time to visit with some of our friends, and take a look around at the other parade elements that we wouldn’t get to see or listen to this year.

That seemed strange, and I missed getting to share all of the fun with my family; but being in the parade and sharing the experience with Rowen, Michael, and Tim was a blast too – especially once we found out right from the start that we were a hit with everyone watching us – or almost everyone.  We had Tim and Rowen start out on the trailer while Michael and I were on the road; and Tim’s Dad turned on the music as soon as he had the trailer straightened out behind the truck and on the road.

Our ‘street’ obstacle course was fairly simple.  There were two rows down the middle of the trailer for each rider to navigate the length of; we switched lanes for the return trip; and then there were two ramps on each side of the trailer near the back that we used for our big, tandem, three-sixty jump to the ground.  The obstacles included a balance beam, boxes of varying sizes to bunny hop on and off, and a couple of things to jump over along the way.  We each had some variations of the tricks, so there was some variety too; and we all seem to have a knack for showing off.

We’d been sure that the jumps would get the biggest reaction from the crowds, and they did, but they weren’t actually the hardest tricks to do – especially while the trailer was moving.  While doing the ‘road’ part of our routine, by the time we finished a candy-tossing run there really wasn’t all that much time for wheelies and one-eighties; but Michael and I – and Tim and Rowen, when it was their turn – managed to fit in three passes along the truck and trailer in the minute and a half we had before needing to hop on the trailer again.

There was a little extra showing off each time we were passing members of our own families – and all of the extra guests that were home for Aunt Grace and Mark’s wedding.  I didn’t get to hand out candy to my brother, sister, and cousins; but Michael and I did pull off one of our best sets of tricks of the day for them while it was our turn on the trailer.  By then, we were almost to the park, so we only had time to run through our routine three more times before Tim’s father turned right onto River Road after crossing the bridge instead of going into the park and trying to turn around there.

He parked the trailer at the lab construction site, and we got to work on packing everything up while waiting for the roads to clear.  Rowen and I dealt with the signs, decorations, and candy while Michael and Tim helped Martin with quickly disassembling everything on the trailer and loading it all into the back of the truck.  Once that was done, Martin set us free so we could bike home once the parade was over, but he needed to wait until the crowds heading into the park along Quarry Road cleared before he could get back across the river too.

Getting home took us a while, mostly because we needed to stop regularly to spend a few minutes with our respective families and some friends.  I didn’t really think about it until then, but this was really the first time that I’ve gotten that kind of public attention in my life.  Michael had his music, and he and Tim both get attention when they play sports, but this was new for Rowen too.  We had fun, but there is still a little part of me that was cringing and worried about the dangers of getting noticed like that.

Old habits and fears are hard to get over; but then new things – like spending a lot of my time with Michael today – can be very easy to get used to; and like a lot!

My first order of business after getting home was to grab a quick shower, and then get dressed for baseball; though I wore a swimsuit too in case we wanted to cool off in the river before or after the game.  I met up with Rowen and Michael for the walk back to the park, but Tim had already hooked up with Nora and the gang they were going to hang out with for the afternoon by then; so we didn’t see him much until our baseball game started at three.

Mom and Dad were taking a turn this year working a food booth – mostly because the Fix-it Uppers weren’t playing a noon game.  Grandma and Grandpa were officially watching Ethan and Ehlana while they were busy, but Michael, Rowen, Dawn, and I all joined in to help with kid control while we had lunch; and then we played with the mid-aged kids – like Jaimie, Kaitlyn, Kara, and Eddie – for an hour and a half or so until Rowen and I needed to get to our warm-ups.

That was another wild blast of non-stop action, with a blur of little cameo visits that were all fun, while not really giving us much time to spend with anyone other than the kids we were helping to entertain.  One thing that was really different this year was not having a cheerleading competition with – or against – Miranda at the noon co-ed ball game.  I wasn’t the only person missing that today; and there were noticeably fewer spectators watching the Gas Guzzlers play the Big Shots.  We checked in with Miranda and Jacob a couple of times, and Miranda seemed particularly happy to see us spending the afternoon together – even though that meant that Michael wasn’t spending much time at all with his grandparents, uncle, aunt, or cousins.

We managed to play quite a few games with the kids before our ball game, and though the games continued for my cousins and the other kids while Rowen and I were busy with our team warm-ups; quite a few of them came to watch the game and join the cheerleading squad that Dawn led with some lawn chair support from Aunt Leanne.

I mentioned earlier that not quite everyone was thrilled with our biking demonstration, and you probably guessed correctly that it was Vanessa and Nora who were not impressed.  The reason I bring that up now is because there were some tweeird zone moments for me to go along with the baseball highlights.  First up for that was when I picked Michael for my good luck hug and kiss partner before the game.  That earned me another loud scolding from Coach Sarah; whistles from Miranda and Aunt Leanne; and the full-out fire-and-ice glare from Vanessa.  All of that helped to motivate me, and Michael didn’t seem to mind helping me out with that little change in recent tradition; so I didn’t have a problem with being teased about it – or having Vanessa mad at me.  Dad needed a hug after the game, and seemed just a little disappointed to find out that he was out of a job as a baseball good luck charm; but I think he’ll be okay.

We were the home team today, so the Cheetahs were at bat first.  They didn’t get off to a great start, and I have to wonder if that was because of getting some bad information about our team – and Rowen and me specifically.  As I think about the scenes from the game now, there were definitely some smirks being directed my way in the lead-up to nearly every hit belted toward me during the first few innings; and Rowen was tested a half-dozen times too.  Unfortunately for the Cheetahs, that didn’t work out very well.  In the first inning alone, I caught a fly ball for an out; Rowen held the second batter to a single; and Rebecca and Carolyn helped me turn the double play that I started by letting the hit from their fourth batter bounce in front of me to force the surprised base runner to try to get to second base even though it was already too late by then.

I’ll admit that my first base hit of the game was intentionally directed at Vanessa, but it was also placed so she had no chance of catching it anyway; and getting that double was the only time I picked on her during the game.  It was satisfying getting to score the first run of the game when Carolyn dropped a hit in for a single that let me get home from third after advancing there on a sacrifice fly.

Nobody was surprised that Carolyn was the best player on the field today, but even she was a bit surprised to see Rowen and I playing a best game of the season so far.  Thanks to Carolyn, Rebecca, and Jenny; Rowen and I scored six of our ten runs.  We also were in on eleven of the defensive outs.  The Cheetahs managed to score seven runs, but five of them came on two home runs; including the three runs they scored in the top of the last inning that came just before Rowen earned the last out with a fairly impressive, on-the-run, pop-fly catch.

I really do love winning, but this is the first time I’ve gone through a post-game scene where there were anyone was actually mad at me; and Vanessa and Nora were both throwing off some very unpleasant empathic vibes.  Trying to deal with that silent anger while doing the post-game team handshakes – and offering support to other friends on the Cheetahs’ team who were genuinely disappointed – wasn’t easy.  Fortunately, we needed to vacate the field for the dinnertime match for the men’s division game; so that tweeird zone moment didn’t last long.  We weren’t doing a post-game celebration because it was dinnertime; and Rowen and I rejoined our family to help out with kid control while parents and grandparents did the food booth runs.

Michael spent that next couple of hours with his family, and after having dinner, Rowen and I ran home to grab showers again and get into more comfortable clothes for the evening dance and fireworks.  We met up with Michael at the park again about a half-hour before the dance started, and while Rowen attempted to make an escape and leave us alone, we added Dawn to the group instead; and the four of us played a couple of games before going to the dance.

What a difference a year makes!  Getting set up to dance together for just one song last year was a lot different than how it felt to dance with Michael tonight.  There was a big difference between being pushed together and having people cut in and split us up – including once when my giggling sister and brother wanted to dance with Michael and me.  It may have been Aunt Leanne’s suggestion, but they were enthusiastic about their mission.

It wasn’t as if I danced exclusively with Michael anyway – I went for a spin with Dad and Grandpa; and we were out on the dance area in groups for all of the up-tempo songs.  Michael could dance just fine last year, but I think he’s been practicing for the wedding; because he’s learned some line dancing and was a lot more confident leading tonight.  Rowen and Dawn weren’t matchmaking victims, but they did both get asked to dance by some non-relative boys – one for Dawn; and two for Rowen.  We’ll have to find time to talk about it in more detail, but Rowen didn’t notice the effect those dance offers had on ‘Tommy’ tonight until I pointed it out to her when we met up after the two-song set she’d spent dancing with the first of the guys.  He wasn’t being too obvious about it, since he was dancing with his girlfriend; but he did keep an eye on Rowen for the rest of the night while looking slightly perplexed – as if he was trying to figure out why what he was seeing was bugging him.

I’d help him out with that, but he wouldn’t believe me right now anyway.

That news flash made Rowen very happy, and her brighter smiles and laughs had as much impact on ‘Tommy’ as on the guys who were dancing with her.  She didn’t spend any serious time off of the dance floor with either guy because she didn’t want to start anything with guys she wasn’t interested in; but it was fun to see her step away from the usual shyness around guys even that little bit.

Tweeirdness alert!

Rowen wasn’t the only person getting some attention from members of the opposite sex.  Chris, Martin, and Jonathan were even more popular than last summer, and things started getting tweeird when Vanessa invited Martin to dance with her – and then pulled him into the group that she was hanging out with – including Tim and Nora.

And I thought that it was weird last year when Jenny and Rebecca were spending so much time with Martin and Jonathan!

Speaking of Jenny, she was still technically dating Shane this morning, but they broke up sometime today; and she was with Joel every time I saw her at the park – and he was watching most of our ballgame today too.  I’m sure that was hard on Shane, and I hope he had friends helping him deal with it.  Jenny should have tried to handle that better, but as I mentioned earlier this week; she’s temporarily lost her mind.  Maybe it’s my own history that affects how I feel about relationships, but even if I didn’t know what I do about my future; I can’t imagine a scenario where Michael would just be the first of a string of boyfriends for me the way that Jenny has been going through boyfriends since crossing over.

I’m like Mom, Dad, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne – I want the fairytale!

Moving on, even while having breakfast and dinner, I didn’t actually get to spend much time with Mom and Dad today, and while hanging out with the other tweens and teens for the fireworks had been an option; Michael was okay with the idea when I suggested that we watch the fireworks with my family.  That meant that we had Rowen, Dawn, Ethan, Ehlana, and all of my younger cousins around us, so it was far from a romantic end to our Fourth of July; but it was really fun and special to get to share that family time with him.  We sat on a blanket in front of Mom and Dad, and Ethan and Ehlana sat in our laps most of the time during the fireworks display.  Rowen and Dawn were next to us, and had Jaimie, Kaitlyn, Kara, and most of the other girls with them.  Michael and Ethan got teased a bit about being the only guys; but Ethan thought that was hilarious, and Michael was happy to put up with the teasing in exchange for cuddling with Ehlana and me; and sharing the occasional kiss with me.

We had to settle for a fairly short goodnight hug and kiss after the fireworks show ended because he needed to go help his parents haul their day camp gear home; and I needed to do the same with my family.  He was home before I was, so I didn’t see him again during the walk from the park; and I’ve been busy since then helping with the work and getting the younger kids into bed for the night.

Ehlana got to have Kaitlyn with her tonight, so Dawn and I have Jaimie and Kara with us; and all three girls – and Mandy – are sleeping now while I’m again sitting in the window alcove with my computer.  It’s after one-thirty, and we have another busy day ahead tomorrow; but I needed the wind down time again, and there’s always more work I can do when I can’t sleep and need to think.

One note that I should add from today that Violet told us about tonight is that Chrissy McEwan and Josiah Palmer found out that they are going to the same college.  That isn’t a surprise for Ethan, Ehlana, and me, since they’re both important enough to our future plans for us to see parts of what’s meant to be for their future; and it’s going to be fun watching that develop between now and when all of our favorite freshmen leave on their college adventures in August.

There were some other stories being passed around tonight too, but I’m sure there was a lot that I missed out on today; and it may even take a few days before I hear all of the stories – especially since we’ll be in wedding mode for the next three days.  We have more incoming guests tomorrow, and a lot of work will be going on; but the only thing going through my mind right now in association with ‘wedding’ is ‘first date with Michael’.  He’s going to be busy between the Inn and his own family guests for the next two days, and now that the parade is over; we won’t have the daily bike practices either.  Add in a holiday weekend buffet day on Sunday; and the only times we may even see each other will be at the wedding and at church on Sunday.

I’m still obstinately sticking to the notion that we need to have that first ‘official’ date before we can use boyfriend or girlfriend labels, but after today, and thinking about how not seeing Michael much is making me feel right now; that’s pretty much just semantics at this point – even though I’ll still wait until Saturday night to publicly concede the obvious.

Right now, though, I need to go to bed.  I’ll be lucky to get four hours of sleep, and while the Inn will be open for breakfast so we don’t have extra guests to feed; we do still have twenty people to feed, and seven younger kids to help and keep entertained while the parents are busy, so I really need to wrap this up and have that little nap.

Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!