Happy 13th Birthday, Sally!
I wish the weather had been nicer for her – and for doing
yard work – but we’ve been fortunate to have so much nice weather so far since
going back to school; and I can’t really complain about one cool, rainy
day. The rain stopped in time for
Sally’s party too; so we were really only dealing with a cool evening and wet
ground around the barn and house.
Let’s get the work report out of the way first before moving
on to the fun parts of the day.
It was raining when we got up for Tai Chi, so we exercised
indoors, and Michael stayed for breakfast before going home to get started on
his own Saturday morning chores. The
rain kept me from mowing the lawn, but Dad and I still worked in the storage
barn and around the yard from after breakfast through until I stopped to go
have a shower and get ready for the party.
Those chores included cleaning the barn; getting most of the canoes
stored for the winter; gardening and raking whenever it wasn’t raining or only
sprinkling lightly; and a bunch of smaller jobs – like giving the generator a
tune-up and making sure it was ready in case we needed it for any fall or
winter storms.
Yes, nearly all of the jobs were dirty, and if we weren’t
wet from the rain we were damp with sweat and grime. It’s a good thing that I clean up pretty
well, or Michael wouldn’t have liked taking me to Sally’s party!
We’d only stopped for a short morning break and lunch, so I
was seriously ready to get on with the fun by the time I went up to my room to
grab a hot shower and get ready for the party – and my sleepover plans at
Rowen’s house. Since I needed to take my
overnight bag there anyway, I went over to Rowen’s house once I was ready to
go; walking there even though Dad had the driving duties out to the Reynolds’
farm this time. I did that mostly so he
didn’t have to wait for us, and it also gave Rowen and I a chance to add a few
finishing touches before we were ready to dazzle the boys.
Dad picked us up first, and then stopped to get Michael and
Tim at their houses. He used the truck
so that he didn’t need to take the car seats out of the minivan. There’s more than a little of his father and
sister in him, though he doesn’t let that out to play all that often; so it was
mostly fun when he teased Michael and I about sitting so close together while
on the front seat of the truck with him.
While that was entertaining, I should have gotten Rowen and Tim to sit
in the front seat instead so that they’d have been forced to sit close together
instead of at opposite sides of the back seat like they ended up doing for the
trip to Sally’s place. The good news is
that Rowen and Tim got to sit close together on the ride back to town after the
party; while the bad is that Rowen was too shy to do anything about that
opportunity with Tim’s mother sitting right there next to her.
I especially love Sally’s birthday parties because she was
the first kid in my class to invite me to one of her parties after I moved to
Witch Falls; but they’re also great because her parents and family make sure
that her parties are a blast of fun too.
Except for Sally’s boyfriend, Joshua, we were the first group of
‘friends’ to get to the farm; and Sally was happy to have us there so that she
and Joshua weren’t stuck hanging out with all of the adults, her older
brothers, or older and younger cousins.
We didn’t actually end up helping them completely escape from that
because Joshua and Tim ended up spending a fair bit of time before dinner with
Sally’s older brothers and one of her cousins who are all on the football team.
Michael was dragged into those sports conversations too, but
Rowen and I did what we could to entertain Sally; and we left the boys for a
while to wander around the farm; and then keep her company while she was busy
with welcoming the rest of her guests as they arrived in pairs or small
groups. While Sally was having another
barn dance, it was a bit different this year because she hadn’t invited many
older friends this time. I think that
was mostly because of the great divide between us and our Grade Nine friends;
though her older brothers and cousins did hang out with us this time – even
though we’re still too young to have any status at all in the high school
social standings.
There were some other changes from last year too, with my
personal favorites being Michael and me together; and Vanessa and Allen coming
to the party as a couple. Part two of
that makes the top of my list because Vanessa finally seems to be over being
mad at me; and she actually even talked to me a couple of times tonight. Nora, on the other hand, is still having some
issues when it comes to Tim. She’s happy
to be dating Brock, and puts a special effort into being very affectionate with
her new boyfriend anytime she thinks Tim might be looking or is nearby; but
she’s annoyed that he isn’t jealous and completely lost without her. Though Tim hasn’t started dating anyone else,
and he and Rowen still haven’t publicly done anything to suggest that they’re
on the way to being a couple, they did only dance with each other tonight; and
Nora did not look happy anytime she saw them out on the dance floor – even
while she and Brock were glued together during all of the slow songs.
Compared to last year, Rowen found it quite easy to put up
with the occasional glares from Nora, and while she wished that she was a lot
less shy and for Tim to take those next steps in their relationship; she was
very happy that she was the only girl he wanted to dance with tonight.
I didn’t intend to skip straight to the dance, so let’s back
up a bit. We had an hour or so to
socialize before dinner, and while Michael and Tim were busy talking football,
Rowen and I spent more time with Sally and most of the other girls instead of
doing that with them and pretending to be interested. Dinner was standard barbeque and side dishes
fare, and while there were some tables set up in the barn; most of the kids and
teens sat on bales of hay while we ate.
Sally opened her gifts between dinner and dessert; and then the boys
entertained us for a while with amazing feats of cake and ice cream
consumption.
While we were not specifically asked to help with any of the
dinner or dessert clean-up; Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I all joined in to help –
along with about half of our classmates and most of the older teens. We got razzed about that by our ‘cooler’
friends later, and Tim was happy to blame it on me; but I didn’t have a problem
with getting teased or taking the blame – especially since I did mostly badger
Tim into helping too.
I don’t know if any parent-kid negotiations were involved,
but becoming a teen earned Sally an extra hour of party time; and the dance
didn’t start wrapping up until shortly before midnight. That gave us lots of time to play, chat,
dance, and have fun with our friends; and Sally was certainly a happy camper
all night. Some of us had more fun that
others, and though Aunt Leanne will be disappointed again; Michael and I were
not one of the couples that disappeared in search of hayloft adventures. Michael and I are never going to be into
making out in public, and while we may get the chance to find out why haylofts
are so much fun for couples; that isn’t going to happen when there is a barn
full of kids, teens, and adults around us.
While I’m thinking about that, thanks for not offering to
chaperone the party tonight like you suggested to us last year, Aunt
Leanne. You might have still wanted to
try making out in a hayloft with Uncle Adam; but I’m having a hard time
picturing you climbing up and down the ladders to do that in your current
condition. That would have made a really
great story if you had done that and then gone into labor and delivered your
baby there!
Getting back to the party report, while Michael and I didn’t
play around in the hayloft, we did go for a couple of walks that included a few
hugs and kisses. Rowen and Tim didn’t
have any moments like that, though I’m sure that they both would have liked to
get some alone time. I’ll see whether I
can arrange that tomorrow; though Rowen and I may only end up seeing Michael
and Tim for a couple of hours in the afternoon during Michael’s break from the Inn. While we
stayed until shortly before midnight, we were also the first of Sally’s friends
to head home because Tim’s mother was among the first group of parents to
arrive at the farm; and she didn’t need to track us down or wait for lengthy
goodbye hugs and kisses.
Michael and I earned some more teasing when I hopped out of
the SUV and told Tim’s mother that she didn’t need to wait for me before going
on to drop Rowen off at her house. She
did continue on to Rowen’s house, but then she stayed and talked with Rowen
until Michael and I were finished with our goodnight kisses on his front porch
and I started jogging over to catch up with them.
Though Rowen didn’t get to do any goodnight kisses with Tim,
he made the mistake of asking me where his goodnight kiss was just before he
and his Mom left; so I stepped up onto the running board, leaned in through the
window, and gave him a quick little kiss on the lips.
Okay, so maybe he didn’t think that was a ‘mistake’, and he
wasn’t even remotely embarrassed about it; but his mother and Rowen thought it
was funny. I’m sure that we’ll all find
out tomorrow morning how Michael feels about his best friend asking for
goodnight kisses from his girlfriend, but if he’s worried about the fact that I
did kiss Tim; I’ll explain the difference between those types of kisses to him
in a clear, concise, and non-verbal sort of way.
Rowen’s mother woke up and had a little visit with us in
Rowen’s room while we got ready for bed, and though Patrick had Scott staying
overnight with him, they’d already fallen asleep; so we didn’t have to deal
with any bedtime pranks or gags from them tonight. Once we were changed, in bed, and on our own
again; I started doing my usual nightly computing while Rowen mostly surfed
YouTube for some songs we’d liked at the dance tonight.
She also entertained both of us with some speculation about
what she’d have done with Tim tonight if she wasn’t such a big chicken (her
words, not mine); and we mixed in some planning to make some alone time for
them – and for Michael and me.
It’s past one-thirty now, and we really need to get some
sleep; so I’m going to wrap this up, put my computer away, and hopefully spend
some time dreaming about Michael and me in an alone-time kind of way. Until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
