Happy 16th Birthday, Chris!
I hope he’s been enjoying his big day, though it probably
isn’t as exciting as Violet’s sweet-sixteen was; and we know for sure that
there wasn’t a new car in the driveway.
Chris also wasn’t having a big family party, and while I’ll get the
details from Dawn sometime tomorrow; she was doing a sleepover at Jillian’s so
she didn’t have to be home for Chris’ party.
Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa are probably wishing by now that they could
have gone for a sleepover with their best friends by now too.
While spending the weekend in Woodvale would have been more
fun than a major yard work day; I’m not all that disappointed that we didn’t
need to fit something like that into our schedule – that would have just meant
piling up more work on top of what we already had after the fall festival
weekend off. That brings me around to
the only thing I’ve been thinking about since Michael went home a couple of
hours ago; so let’s go there next.
I am an idiot.
Okay, not really; but I feel like one right now. Michael and I finally got that alone time
we’ve both wanted for what feels like ages now; we were all set up with snacks,
drinks, and a scary Halloween movie; and then I promptly fell asleep before we
got around to any quality make-out time at all.
Stop laughing – it isn’t funny!
Mom and Dad thought it was hilarious, but that was mostly because
they’ve been there and done that recently enough to relate. Michael assured me that he didn’t mind just
cuddling with me and watching the movie while I slept; but I guarantee we’d
have both been happier if I’d managed to stay awake instead.
The frustration from that missed opportunity has a lot to do
with why I’m still awake now, and while my end of the family business is benefitting
from the re-directed energy; that isn’t any consolation to me tonight. Let’s move on from thinking about what didn’t
happen, though, and do the rest of the update.
Since it was cold out this morning, Michael didn’t come over
to Rowen’s house for Tai Chi; so I was on my own for that today. Rowen and I managed to get through taking
turns having showers and getting dressed for a yard work day before Patrick and
Scott were given their wake-up call; though they still managed to find time to
bug us while we had breakfast and cleaned the kitchen after we ate. I felt bad about leaving my best friend stuck
with them all day; but I needed to get home and start helping Dad with the
chores around our house.
I’d missed out on Dad’s homecoming last night, so there were
some bonus hugs and kisses this morning, and we had a little chat with Mom,
Ethan, and Ehlana after I first got home; but then it was time to get to work
on our extensive to-do lists. The
temperature had dropped to near-freezing, so I was dressed accordingly; but it
didn’t take long to heat up – especially when job-one for me was raking
leaves. I wasn’t alone for that, because
Mom came out to work with me as soon as Alicia came over and could take care of
Ethan and Ehlana while doing her usual Saturday jobs.
There are a lot of really great things about having a big
yard, but dealing with everything related to fall clean-ups is not on that
particular list.
We spent four very long, tough hours getting the leaves
raked and bagged, and though I was only teasing Dad about getting him a new
lawn tractor with some bells and whistles that would help out with things like
cleaning up leaves for Father’s Day next year; he didn’t actually seem to be
against the idea despite joking about how that might break several local
man-laws. Maybe I’ll seriously talk
about that with Mom later – and we could even think about something like that
for Christmas if we added a snow blower too.
That might be a waste for the years when we don’t get much snow, but a snow
blower would have come in handy for some of the storms we’ve had since Mom and
I moved here.
I don’t want to think about cold and winter right now
either, though that isn’t because I’m chilled or anything. It wasn’t a really warm day, but it was
sunny; and we had a decent afternoon – warm enough to be comfortable without
being too hot for the work we were doing.
While there were other jobs that Mom and Dad had me help them with, my
main afternoon job was cutting the lawn once the leaves were out of the way;
and my last job – putting up the Halloween decorations – was a lot of fun. Ethan and Ehlana helped me with that; and we
spent about an hour on that before it was getting dark and time to go inside
and get cleaned up for dinner.
By then, I really needed a hot shower, so I did that next;
cheated with a little time-phase so I could get my hair done before dinner was
ready; and then enjoyed having a chance to talk with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and
Ehlana while we demolished a lasagna and the rest of the food Mom had cooked up
for us. Dad had work to do in the office
tonight, but he and I took care of the dinner clean-up; and he watched a
Halloween show with the rest of us before going to hide in the office when Mom
was ready to dunk Ethan and Ehlana in the tub.
I helped her with that, and we had my brother and sister in
the pajamas by the time Michael came over after finishing up at the Inn for the night.
He was happy to help out with the bedtime story while we munched on Olde
Bakery treats and drank cups of hot chocolate or coffee; and then we took care
of getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night while Mom and Dad stayed in
the office to work.
We’ve already covered my badly-timed nap, so the only thing
I haven’t mentioned is that my wake-up call came when Mom and Dad stopped into
the lounge to say goodnight to us. Mom
would have been able to tell that I was sleeping before seeing us, so the
timing for wrapping up their work in the office within fifteen minutes of when
Michael was due to be home wasn’t a coincidence. Since I may have inherited her talent for
just falling asleep when we run out of steam; she may have suspected that
Michael would be like Dad; and be willing to cuddle with me until I woke up.
I’d have been okay with that; though none of our parents are
ready for that step in our relationship quite yet.
That’s another nice thought to end this report with – and
take into dreamland with me; so I’m going to put my computer away now and try
to get some more rest. I’d suggest that
I need to do that to be ready for the next time Michael and I get a chance for
some quality alone time; but I have no idea when that’ll happen – especially
with everything we have going on between now and Halloween.
I’ll just think happy thoughts and hope for the best.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
