Happy 13th Birthday, Tim!
The happy birthday kiss that Rowen overcame her ultra-shy
problem to share with him just a little while ago certainly has her very happy
as we sit here in our tent after saying goodnight to Michael and Tim. We’ll get to that part of the story soon, but
let’s back up to the beginning of the day and go from there.
Michael came over for Tai Chi, but then he was off and
running to the Inn so he could work the breakfast and lunch shifts before
getting the rest of the day off for Tim’s party. I needed to work on my part time job today,
and though Rowen had worked at the store yesterday morning while I was busy
helping Michael; she spent another morning there while I hid in the office
after breakfast and put four solid hours in on my family business work. Lunch with Mom, Alicia, Ethan, and Ehlana was
quick and easy; and then I met up with Rowen and the computer store so that we
could go over to Tim’s house together.
His party didn’t start until five, but there was work to be
done to get everything ready for it; and Rowen and I had volunteered our
services. We started out with setting up
tents; including the one that I’d brought along for Rowen and I to share. Tim’s parents had borrowed others and had two
of their own; so that kept us busy for nearly an hour. Michael was finished at the Inn and came over
to join the work crew by the time we were finishing up with the tents; and we
all moved on to setting up tables, chairs, and a volleyball ‘court’ – the only
planned game other than the video gaming that went on in the family room after
dinner and the mini volleyball tournament that followed the meal.
When that work was done, Tracey had us take a break so that
Michael, Rowen, and I could go home; get ready for the party; and return with
the gear we’d need for the camping part of the party. Rowen and I stopped in at her house to get
her overnight bag and pick out clothes; but then she came over to my house so
we could take turns hitting the showers there and then get ready for the party
together. Using a little Magi power to
help with that was an option, but we didn’t do too much of that. Michael and Tim probably wouldn’t have a clue
if we looked like we’d spent hours getting ready when we’d only had a half hour
or so, but Tracey would know we couldn’t do things like major hair styling
during that little break.
What we did do was worth the reaction we got from both boys
when we met up again at Tim’s house.
Michael had been ready before we were, so he’d gone on ahead; and he was
already helping out with the dinner preparations. Rowen and I put our camping gear in our tent;
and then joined in to help again until we were relieved of duty shortly before
the rest of the party guests started to arrive.
Let’s start the party re-cap with the ex-girlfriend
news. That won’t take long, because Nora
and Vanessa didn’t come. They were
invited, as all of our classmates were; but Nora apparently rather bluntly
turned Tim down, and Vanessa stuck with her best friend. I am sorry that they’re still upset with us,
but I’m not going to lie to you – their absence today made it a lot easier for
Rowen and I to have fun at the party.
All of the kids, tweens, and teens were in the back yard by
a quarter-past five, and Martin led the crew of me working or supervising the
cooking on the grills, but most of the adults didn’t join the party until
shortly before we sat down to eat at six.
The first big change with that compared to nearly every other ‘friends’
birthday parties was that Rowen and I sat with Michael and Tim at the head
table. That would have earned more
notice if Rowen had sat next to Tim instead of me, but because she didn’t; our
change in social status was chalked up to me dating Michael.
It’s a good thing that kiss wasn’t witnessed, Rowen – not
that you would have kissed him tonight if you hadn’t gotten to be alone with
him for a few minutes.
You’re welcome, and thanks right back; since Michael and I
appreciated the good night kiss time that you and Tim had been giving us at the
time! ;^)
Don’t you just love moments like that when everyone wins?
Okay, back to the party report before I get totally
distracted. The menu for our second
birthday party meal in less than a week wasn’t a lot different, but the buffet
table tonight did include a couple of Tim’s favorite family recipe side
dishes. Tracey told us that a pot of
baked beans had been considered, but skipped when the overnight camping was a
go. I’m sure that at least some tent
mates are thankful for that decision right about now! I’m sure that Michael was used to it for his
best friend’s parties, but Rowen and I really loved getting to be in the middle
of the birthday action today. We had
Tim’s parents, aunt, and uncle at the table with us; and it was nearly as much
fun talking with Tracey and Sarah as it was to share the meal and watch Tim
open his gifts.
I won’t get into the birthday gift list, but Tim did love
the gifts that Michael, Rowen, and I gave him.
We didn’t have a problem with Tim taking his time unwrapping his gifts
or trying to save wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows; and that must be a known
fact with most of his family and friends, because there were more gift bags
than wrapped presents. That’s the main
reason why we managed to eat dinner; have him open his gifts; do the cake and
ice cream thing; and have the yard part of the clean-up finished in less than
an hour and a half.
The volleyball matches started then, and there were kids,
teens, and adults involved in that while non-players sat in lawn chairs and
enjoyed the spectacle. Here are some
random thoughts from that blast of fun.
Lee and Kyle can jump pretty good for really, really big guys, but the
trick to beating them at volleyball is making them try to dig the ball down
low. On the other hand, Sarah is lower
to the ground, and while she’ll never be a great spiker; her ground game is
awesome! Carolyn is just plain good at
every sport she plays; and volleyball is no exception. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did okay; but
we’re still a bit on the short side to keep up with the older teens and most of
the adults. At least we had some of
those better players on our team for the one match that we did win.
The non-camper party guests started heading home by nine,
and most of the guys moved the party indoors for a while so they could play
video games in the family room. A few
couples disappeared to go for walks or find somewhere to hide and probably make
out as it got dark outside; but Rowen and I were with the group of girls that
went inside to hang out in the family room too.
Watching video games when you’re not playing isn’t all that
exciting to me, and the guys can get fairly annoying as they goof around in
groups; but we still had fun chatting with the other girls and the guys can be
very entertaining when they’re not trying to gross each other out. It wasn’t a surprise that the guys wanted to
try out Tim’s new video games, but Rowen and I had a plan for dealing with that
– a digital copy of the Star Trek – Into Darkness movie that had come out
yesterday.
Okay, it’s a sci-fi, space action flick; but half of the
guys, including Michael, are second or third generation trekkies; and cuddling
with our boyfriends while we watched the movie made most of the girls
happy. Rowen and Tim weren’t cuddling
too, but they did end up sitting beside each other on one of the sofas while
Michael and I sat on the floor in front of them. One thing that I did learn tonight is that I
need to do a bit of Star Trek and Star Wars reading. I know the basics for both franchises; but
the guys were talking specific star dates and all sorts of trivia that went way
beyond how many movies and television series there had been; or who the best
captains and main characters were – or are with the new movies.
It was time to take turns using the washrooms and heading
out to our tents once the movie was over; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were
the last to take turns doing that after the rest of our friends were outside
and we’d finished straightening up the family room. That’s also when Rowen and Tim disappeared
and left Michael and I alone for our goodnight kisses – and Rowen took the big
step of kissing Tim for the first time.
Yes, it’s their second kiss; but he kissed her the first
time. Rowen assured me that the fireworks
went off again this time; and it was obvious when we met up with them again
that Tim wasn’t grinning just because of the jokes he directed at Michael and
me about having enough time to say goodnight to each other. We went outside then, and while nobody had
climbed into sleeping bags and gone to sleep yet; everyone else had gotten
changed by then, and had gathered in small groups in a few of the tents.
We did a lengthy round of visits to those tents before
Michael and I shared another little kiss goodnight that was mostly just to
appease the guys who were razzing Michael about it. Rowen and I got changed, climbed into our
sleeping bags, and I fired up my computer to start my usual nightly computing
while she led off the girl chat with the birthday kiss news flash. It was heading toward one-thirty by then, and
the noise level around the ‘camp’ was dropping fast; but Rowen was fired up for
obvious reasons, and I kept working until starting this journal update when she
started running out of steam.
It’s past two-thirty now, and if anyone else is still awake;
they’re not making any noise loud enough to be heard over the sounds of a few
snoring boys. I’m supposed to be awake
again at dawn for Tai Chi with Michael; so it’s past-time to wrap this up and
crash for a few hours.
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
