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!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Cassie's Journal - July 6, 2013



Congratulations, Aunt Grace and Uncle Mark!

I know they’re technically my cousins, but I’ve really been looking forward to having an ‘Uncle’ Mark.

It’s time to confirm that I also officially have a boyfriend too.  I’ll get to the details of that later in the update.

Mom, Dad, and I had Aunt Leanne with us this morning for Tai Chi, and then we jumped straight from the calm of our exercising into the breakfast and morning routine.  Having Aunt Grace and Aunt Leanne with us for breakfast was fun – especially watching Aunt Grace and Uncle Blaine together.  The banter was entertaining, and the love was palpable and touching.

There wasn’t actually all that much time available for having breakfast, and while almost all of the women in our house had to make visits to the salon and other things to do around the house before getting ready for the wedding, Dawn and I had to juggle keeping our cousins and the other kids entertained with helping out with the car wash and pavilion decorating going on at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s.  Uncle Adam had lots of help for both jobs, and though Dawn and I had extra girls with us while we were decorating, there was parental support for the rest of the kids; with most of the jobs meant to keep us busy and out of trouble until lunchtime.

That meal was at our house, and Grandpa led the grilling; offering hotdogs and burgers from eleven-thirty until one o’clock to go along with the rest of the buffet options that were available with everyone eating whenever they could make the time to do that.  I ate early, and then helped some of my cousins to get ready for the wedding while waiting for my turn to grab a shower.  My bedroom and lounge was where Mom and Aunt Melissa had set up hair and make-up stations, so my bathroom was just being used for showers – as were the guest bathrooms on the second and third floor while Mom and Dad’s bathroom was exclusively for the bride, matron of honor, and the bridesmaids – though only Aunt Alison got ready for the wedding here while Mark’s sister and sister-in-law did that in their rooms at the Inn instead.

It seems funny now as I write this that the most time I spent talking with Mom today was when she helped me with my hair before I got dressed.  We went with some small braiding accents, a small, fancy hair clip that matched my dress; and some curls that looked amazing when she was done with it.  The dress, and the necklace and earrings from Mom and Dad’s wedding, looked as great as I’d hoped; and by a quarter to two, I had joined the other girls in the living room who were ready to go; but waiting for the men to clear out of Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house so that we could walk over there with Aunt Grace for the bridal party photos.

The second-best compliment I was given today came from Dad when he joked about either having me stay home sick or wear a full-length dress coat the entire time I was at the wedding and reception; and I’ll get to the best compliment in a minute; but it’s funny that he didn’t have the same reaction to Mom – and she looked way hotter than I did.  I’m sure perspective has everything to do with that.

We got the all-clear call at five-to-two, so the non-wedding party parents gathered up the cousins, nieces, and nephews for the walk over to the back yard of Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s new house.  The ‘kid’ pictures were being done first so that most of us could then be rounded up and driven over to the church while the rest of the photos were being taken; and Ethan, Ehlana, and I were in three of those first shots with Aunt Grace – one with just the three of us; and two group photos.  The first of those was with the kids and teens on Aunt Grace’s side of the family and the second included Mark’s cousins, nieces, and nephews too.  Once that last picture was taken, I was set free to go and pick up my date!

That brings us to the best compliment I got today.  Michael opened the door about five seconds after I rang the doorbell, his beautiful blue eyes lit up and opened wide when he saw me; and he blurted out “I love you, Cassie” before blushing when he realized that he had said something completely different from what he’d likely planned on saying.  In case you missed the actual compliment, it was the complete loss of control over what he wanted to say – the ‘I love you’ was a nice added bonus.  He didn’t look away or show any signs that he regretted telling me that even if he was a bit embarrassed; so he didn’t miss seeing my happy reaction to his unintended admission.  It really is amazing just how much power those three little words have, and if Michael was surprised about telling me that; he was floored when I stepped close for a hug and whispered “I love you too” before sharing a soft, brief kiss.

That is one of those moments that make me so grateful for my photographic memory!

We weren’t alone, or that kiss might have been a bit more serious.  One of Michael’s cousins had been asked to take pictures of us for Miranda before we left, so she took a couple of them in the living room and then out in the front yard while the guys had fun teasing Michael.  By two-thirty, we were set free to start walking to the church; and we were both smiling brightly as we held hands and headed toward Quarry Road.

Michael’s reaction to me had been even better than I’d expected, but I was impressed too.  He was wearing a new suit that looked great on him, and though it was a very hot day to be stuck wearing a tie; he should think about wearing them more often than he does.  His hair looked good too, and while he hasn’t been into the gel and other things that some of the guys use, he must’ve added something today to keep it from getting messed up in the breeze – though it still looked as soft and thick as always.

There’ s one more thing I’ll add before moving on, and though it didn’t matter to me at all; I know – and knew – that it was a big deal for Michael.  We’re currently exactly the same height – five feet, one inch.  He never said a word to me about it from the time I invited him to the wedding until now, but he had been worried about how much taller I’d look compared to him if I’d gone with heels and a ‘big’ hair style.  Knowing that was the main reason my shoe choice didn’t have as much of a heel as my cross trainers; and my hair style was down and pulled back.  We didn’t talk about it today either, but I could sense the relief along with the love and happiness while we were walking together.

What we did talk about was what we’d each been doing for the last day and a half.  I gave him the condensed version of the action that had been going on around my family; and then he had time to tell me about a few things that had happened at the Inn and what he’d been doing with his visiting family in between work.  We were getting some attention from the neighbors and friends we passed along the way; and we found out from Stephanie later that we were a big hit – according to the reports delivered to Miranda at the Inn by some of those witnesses.

We made an impression when we walked into the sanctuary too; and I loved walking down the aisle holding Uncle Adam’s arm while he quietly teased me about quite possibly being the second-prettiest girl at the wedding today.  That was sweet, but he probably changed his mind about that the moment he saw Aunt Leanne walk down the aisle – even if Michael agreed with him.

Mom and Dad were there with Ethan and Ehlana by then, so we were seated with them in the third row – behind Grandma, Grandpa, and about half of the Rice family.  Grandpa Duncan and Grandma Mercy would be in the front row ahead of us when they arrived, but Jaimie and Jayden were already there; and sitting with Grandpa Richard, Grandma Carrie, and Dawn.  I would’ve preferred having Dawn in front of us instead of Chris and Martin; but only because it would have been more fun to talk with her.  Aunt Melissa made sure that my cousins didn’t tease me much; and they didn’t really have much time to do that before the mothers of the bride and groom were seated just before Pastor Lewis led Uncle Mark and the other men in the wedding party to the front of the sanctuary while Pastor Martha closed the main doors – a sure sign that the bridal party had arrived.

Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace were having a reception that was a bit larger than the one for Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, but the sanctuary was less than half full.  That seemed strange, but wasn’t really surprising since Aunt Grace didn’t grow up here; and Uncle Mark didn’t yet know all that many people yet – though he would soon enough once he begins working at the clinic.  The advantage that smaller crowd had for me was that I could see more of the processional than I would have been able to if the sanctuary had been full.

When the doors were opened again, Kaitlyn and Kellum led the way down the aisle; and they really were adorable.  There was a lot to take in right then, but now that I have time to replay the scene, I really love seeing things like Uncle Blaine’s reaction to seeing his younger daughter that was so much like how Dad looked when Dawn and I were doing that at Mom and Dad’s wedding.  The reactions of the men to their respective wives was wonderful too, and going back to Uncle Blaine again, there was definitely a feeling of déjà vu for me comparing his reactions to both his wife and his sister that was exactly how Dad looked at Aunt Leanne’s wedding.  Well, this time around Aunt Leanne is the pregnant woman in the bridal party, instead of the wife of the bride’s brother; but then Uncle Adam’s reaction to seeing his wife was awesome too.

Getting back to the processional, Uncle Mark’s sister-in-law, Candice, was next in line; followed by Aunt Alison, his sister, Maria, and Aunt Leanne.  There was some more déjà vu when I first saw Aunt Grace with Grandpa Duncan.  I guess I’ll probably feel that way at every wedding, but I hadn’t gone to any weddings before Mom and Dad’s; and they’ll always feel magical to me.

Of course I was also holding hands with the boy who had just told me for the first time that he loves me; so there was already a little Witch Falls magic in the air – and more than enough warm fuzzies to share with everyone.

There were lots of warm fuzzy moments over the next twenty minutes or so.  Some members of Uncle Mark’s family may still think he’s nuts to be moving to our little town, but there couldn’t possibly be anyone in the sanctuary today with any doubt at all about whether he and Aunt Grace were in love.  My favorite moments included the little things – like Grandpa Duncan having Kaitlyn climb up into his lap and wiping away tears before hugging him after he’d placed Aunt Grace’s hand into Uncle Mark’s.  I didn’t get specifically mentioned when they exchanged vows, but the word ‘matchmakers’ did come up once; and I’m sure that nearly everyone knew that Aunt Leanne and I were the primary members of that little group.  That seemed even funnier today while I was holding hands with Michael; though I still have a very different opinion about being an eleven and twelve-year old target of a matchmaking conspiracy.

Before you say anything after reading that, Rowen, don’t forget that you are a willing client in our matchmaking mission this summer.

Even on replay, the actual wedding ceremony is practically a blink in time compared to the months – and thousands of hours – of work that go into creating that perfect moment.  A longer ceremony might be okay in the Fall or Spring, but it was very hot in the sanctuary at three o’clock today; so everyone was happy to get Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace married quickly and then get outside again where there was at least a breeze to help out with the heat.  If it’s this hot tomorrow, I’ll guess that we’ll have one of those short Sunday services too.

While most of the parents and youngest kids had rides back to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house, there were also a lot of pedestrians too who were either going on to do something else until the social hour before dinner started at five; or were walking back so that we didn’t use vehicles and drivers that weren’t really needed.  Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace had been whisked away in their limousine for a little ‘victory lap’ around town, so they probably didn’t get to the house much ahead of us.  Michael and I walked there with Dawn, Rowen, and some of the other kids and teens.  We had time to grab cold bottles of water in the pavilion, but then we needed to be at the next photo shoot – where the kids and teens pictures with the bride, groom, and wedding party were again being taken first before the younger kids – and some of the teens – were too restless to keep under control.

I wasn’t surprised when Michael was included in most of the pictures I was part of the group for – except for two ‘girls only’ shots with the bride and groom.  We both expected to be helping out with the younger kids today, and we started doing that as soon as we were finished with the photo shoot.  At first, all we needed to do was keep an eye on Ethan, Ehlana, and a bunch of the younger cousins and friends while they all had drinks and a snack break, but then we needed to work a bit at keeping them entertained while still mostly staying clean and out of mischief.

Playing with a bunch of kids probably isn’t something that most tweens and teens would consider fun for first – or any – dates, and I won’t tell you it was the best part of our day; but we did have fun.  None of us were dressed for sports, but tossing a Frisbee around or playing croquet wasn’t too tough – even for those of us who were wearing dresses.  Aunt Leanne also had activity books and crayons available in the pavilion; so Dawn had a small group of kids doing that for a while too while Michael, Rowen, and I were busy with the rest of the kids.

The social hour before dinner started at five o’clock, and we soon had more inbound kids joining us.  We had some help, and only had about another forty-five minutes of play time left before parents started rounding up their kids and going to find tables to sit at in the pavilion.  Most of the seating was unassigned, but Michael, Rowen, Dawn, and I were at a family ‘kids’ table with Ethan, Ehlana, Jaimie, and Kaitlyn.  Again, not a romantic, candlelit dinner for two kind of date; but Ethan and Ehlana especially made up for that with their amazing ‘normal toddler’ act.

Since we’re pretty much to the dinner part of the night, I wanted to mention that Violet and Dillon were both juggling being wedding guests with trying to help Jake and Stephanie with their catering job.  Even doing a buffet set-up was a lot of work; So Violet and Dillon helped out right up until the members of the wedding party were invited to get up and begin filling their plates; and then they went back to work again once it was time to start clearing the tables after dessert.  Michael felt a bit guilty about not helping too, but Stephanie and Violet in particular had refused to let him do that while we were on our first date.  Their excuse for why being on a date wasn’t a problem for Violet and Dillon too was explained away by advising us that making money for college superseded date rules when you were down to just weeks left to add cash to the college fund.

As for the meal that Jacob and Jake put together for us, it was just as spectacular as the one they did last year for Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah.  Whether you were at one of the first tables to be called up for the buffet or the last there was some waiting around time – either before or after dinner.  For us, it was after we’d eaten, and though there were the usual speeches and reception entertainment; we also took some of the kids outside to play again once they started getting too restless from sitting around so much.  It was eight-thirty by the time the last groups of guests were finished dessert and the clean-up kicked into high gear; and that was also when Mom decided that Michael and I – and Rowen and Dawn – needed to be set free from helping out with the younger kids for the rest of the night.

While I’m in that interlude between dinner and the start of the dance; let’s get the tweeird for the night mentioned – and then ignore it.  First up: Patrick was not a happy camper tonight, and while he still talked to me the few times I spoke to him first, he wouldn’t talk to Michael at all.  I’ve seen ‘the icy glare’ often enough recently to know why Michael was on the receiving end of it, and while I can empathize; Patrick is going to have to get over his crush on me.  That did have me looking around at the younger girls, but if Michael has any younger girls crushing on him too; they weren’t at the reception tonight.

He does have Vanessa, though, which brings me to the other tweeirdness of the night.  I didn’t get the details, and I guess they don’t actually matter, but Vanessa was at the reception with Martin from shortly before the dance started until after it ended.  I tried not to let that bug me, but it was annoying to have her watching us a lot to see how our date was going while she also seemed to be trying to make Michael jealous by getting close and personal with my older, handsome, high-school bound cousin.

Thankfully, none of that really made an impact on Michael and me; and I’m not going to write anything else about those ongoing moments of tweeird.  When Mom and some of the other parents took over entertaining the younger kids, we sat down and had cold drinks with Rowen and Dawn for a few minutes, and then went for a walk by ourselves for the bit of time we had before Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace were invited to share their first husband and wife dance.  We were sharing our first ‘boyfriend-girlfriend’ dance about ten minutes later, and I’m again glad that I’ll be able to remember that dance forever.

We spent most of the next four hours together, though we both needed to dance with other people too; and we sat with Rowen, Dawn, and a rotating group of tweens and teens when we weren’t dancing or visiting with people at other tables.  My favorite parts of the dance included everything Michael and I did together; having Aunt Leanne, Violet, and Ehlana all cut in on me at different times; and the little bits of time we got to spend with Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace.

I had absolutely no involvement with most of the action going on around the bride and groom.  They were especially busy trying to spend time with Mark’s family, and with friends that they wouldn’t see regularly anymore now that they were both moving here.  Trying to fit all of that, and a few dances, into just three hours was impossible; but they did try their best.  Aunt Grace made the change out of her wedding gown into the dress she’d picked for travel comfort in only about twenty minutes; and by a quarter to twelve; she and Uncle Mark were both ready for the last round of dances with their parents, best man, and matron of honor.

When they left in the limousine, Michael, Rowen, Dawn, and I wandered out front to watch them go; but we didn’t join the group seeing them off because they already had a big enough group around them with the wedding party, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews.  Since we were over by Rowen’s house, we did get to exchange waves with them as they passed us; and then we went back to the pavilion for the rest of the dance.

There’s a lot that I’ve skipped over and wasn’t involved in either – like bedtime for most of the younger kids – but there are some things that I should include.  While the dinner was invitation only, we had lots of extra, casual guests stopping in during the dance; and Vanessa wasn’t the only person to get invited for that part of the evening.  I’ll take a wild guess that Stephanie and Violet may have been involved in Josiah Palmer’s invite, but he and Chrissy seemed very happy to hang out with their friends and go dancing together.  ‘Tommy’ was there for about an hour with his parents and girlfriend; and I know for sure that he had a tough time trying not to be obvious while watching Rowen.  I didn’t get a chance to talk to her about it, but she smiled a lot while he was there; and I’m sure she noticed his attention too.

I don’t think we’re going to need until the Labor Day weekend to succeed in our little summer challenge!

Getting back to the wedding report, but still skipping over lots of details – like the babysitting support that Mom and Aunt Leanne had set up for the kids that ran out of steam early; Michael and I spent most of that last hour dancing together, including during the last set of ballads that the band ended the night with.  While working with Jake and Stephanie hadn’t been allowed, I was on the pavilion clean-up crew.  Michael wouldn’t let me walk him home first and come back to help out; so we both spent more than a half hour doing that while the remaining members of the wedding party and the parents of the bride and groom saw the rest of their guests on their way home or to the Inn.  The tables, chairs, and pavilion wouldn’t be taken down until Monday sometime, but we had everything else cleaned up by two o’clock.

Dawn had gone back to our house by then, but Michael and I walked next door with Rowen before going on to his house.  I’ll find out tomorrow, but won’t be surprised if she was one of the witnesses to the goodnight kiss Michael and I shared on his front porch.

She won’t know that it wasn’t the last one until we get a chance to talk tomorrow. ;^)

That’s because I mentioned to Michael that I was going to get changed and jump into the river to cool off before going to bed; and he offered to go for the swim with me.

He’s really great about making the little sacrifices like that for me!

We met out on the dock at my house ten minutes later, and though we were left alone, Jake, Stephanie, Violet, and Dillon all thought that going for a dip in the river was such a good idea that they did the same thing over at the Stone’s house.  That meant that Michael and I got whistled at during our last goodnight kiss, but then one of those whistles came from Miranda; and it sounded like she and Jacob had decided to wind down on the back porch before going to bed.

I suppose that Michael and I better just get used to those whistles and jokes, because I definitely plan on sharing goodnight kisses with him on a regular basis from now on!

Anyway, we only swam for about fifteen or twenty minutes; the goodnight hug, kiss, and whistles didn’t take long; and then I went up to bed after sharing some more goodnight hugs and kisses with the members of my family that were still awake, in the kitchen, and grinning at me when I joined them there.  I had Dawn, Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and Kara all in my room and the lounge tonight; and they were all sleeping by the time I took a change of clothes with me into the bathroom and got ready for bed.

That’s where I’m going to be heading now, but I’ve been sitting in the window alcove again while doing my nightly computing, writing this journal update, and enjoying the memory replays of the highlights from today.  It is after three o’clock now, though, and we’re one of the host houses doing breakfast for everyone who is staying at the Inn.  I’m on the cooking crew for that, and while Mom, Dad, and I agreed to skip Tai Chi; that still means we need to be up in less than three hours – especially since we will also be juggling bathroom time for twenty to get ready for church.

I can’t put this wedding ahead of Mom and Dad’s, or Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s, but it does rate fairly high on the best-day-ever-so-far list.  Michael and I will probably get teased about having our first date at Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s wedding, but the good news for him is that it will make remembering our dating anniversary very easy to remember.

What I’m going to remember right now as I go off to sleep is that Michael Stone told me that he loves me for the first time today.  There’s no better ending to this report than that, so...

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