Happy 14th Birthday, Rebecca!
I have a lot to write about for Rebecca’s big day, but need
to write about something else that happened today before I get to that.
Michael got asked to do something special for the school
Christmas show this year. That’s not
surprising, since he’s one of the best musicians in the school; but he totally
surprised me when he asked me to do a duet with him. Just in case the hopeful blue eyes and smile
weren’t enough; Michael threw in a very sweet kiss that convinced me to agree
to do that with him. Doing something
like that in public really isn’t particularly scary for me; but it does feel
very strange to be putting myself in the spotlight again – like we did at the
Fourth of July parade – after always wanting to keep a low-profile while on the
run with Mom. I wonder how long it will
take for me to not feel that way anymore.
Anyway, so we’re going to do a duet, so I’ve been listening
to Christmas music tonight while I’ve been working; and Michael and I are both
going to come up with some songs that we like to pick from. I’ve found lots of holiday duets to listen to
on YouTube; but there really aren’t very many that are newer songs. Singing one of the old favorites is an
option; but I’m hoping that we’ll find something that we both like that’s newer
– and appropriate for our age. There are
some duets that are not meant for tween couples – no matter how nice the songs
are; and especially with both parents and young kids in the audience.
The idea of getting snowed in and stuck at Michael’s house
for Christmas is nice, like in the ‘Baby, it’s cold outside’ song; but I
seriously doubt we’ll ever have a storm so bad that I couldn’t make it home
from two doors down the street – no matter how much fun that might be. I’ll save that thought for later, and get
back to the rest of the update.
We started out with a fairly chilly morning, but it has
warmed up since then and been very nice for the first school day of
December. The only change to my normal
weekday morning routine was having breakfast with Michael and his family. He mostly invited me so that we could give
Rebecca the joint gift we’d gotten for her; and I was happy to get in on the
special birthday breakfast that Jacob cooked for us. Rebecca opened one of the gifts from her
parents and the one that Jake and Stephanie sent her; but had to wait until her
party to open the rest.
The big story at school today was obviously the football
championship; and every player on the team was treated like heroes by pretty
much every kid and teen. I’d like to be
able to report that we’ll be done with football until next year; but the guys
are just moving on to putting college football on the front burner. That isn’t at the top of my fun list, though in
a small way it is because Michael finds it very entertaining when I can jump in
with the facts and stats about pretty much anything the guys are debating. I won’t get into that, but the bottom line is
that football will be on the guy chat list until after the Super Bowl; and I’ll
just have to make the best of it. The
good news is that even if Rowen and I get stuck watching a lot of games between
now and then; we’ll be able to do that indoors – and preferably while cuddling with
our boyfriends.
That little change made the gossip network today too; and
Rowen loved every minute of her first school day ever with a boyfriend. She was shy and quiet a lot too; but didn’t
stop smiling all day – especially anytime she was holding hands with Tim
between classes and at lunchtime. She
was blushing after the one kiss I saw them share; but I’m sure she’ll get used
to that soon enough too. It was funny to
see the reactions from some of our friends and classmates today. The four of us have been spending a lot of
time together even before Nora broke up with Tim, so it was strange to see the
looks of surprise and disbelief being directed at Rowen and Tim.
Nora wasn’t surprised, but she did look to be just a little
bit annoyed with a touch of sad. I don’t
know if she still had hopes for Tim still when he hadn’t started dating anyone
since their break-up in August; but the sad might have been there today if she
finally saw the same thing that I do with Rowen and Tim. There are guys who still see Rowen the way
Tim used to see her; both guys and girls who can’t see quiet and shy Rowen
together with the mostly overtly outgoing guy in our class; and the few, like
Sally and Joshua, who know Rowen well-enough to get exactly why she and Tim are
perfect for each other.
I’m just really happy that my best friend had a really great
day – and is so happy right now.
Tim and Rowen were on their own for homework time after
school – and not just because Michael and I needed to go over to his house to
help out with Rebecca’s birthday dinner and party. They ended up going to Tim’s house to study;
and Rowen was quite happy to assure me that they didn’t just study when she
told me all about it during our computer chat a while ago when I first fired up
my computer to get started on my nightly computing. It will not even slightly surprise me to find
out that they make more alone time for themselves than Michael and I manage to
do; but we’ll see how that goes for them – and us.
While Rowen was definitely having more of that kind of fun
than I was tonight, Michael and I had a very entertaining evening too; and
Rebecca at least had a good birthday if not a great one. The absence of a boyfriend tonight was
particularly noticeable because Jenny had helped her to plan a party geared
toward teen couples. Michael and I were
the only ‘kids’ there; and we were mostly there for the dinner and to help with
the work. Rebecca was really glad that
we were because Jenny and the other girls were all busy with their boyfriends;
and she ended up spending as much time with us – and with her parents – as she
did with her older classmates and friends.
While Jacob cooked a special birthday meal, he also stuck
with normal teen favorites too instead of trying something new and exotic. That made for a less-interesting than usual
selection of food; but everything was also still delicious, and the
entertainment was pretty good – if occasionally weird. I’ll put Jenny and Garth at the top of the
list for the weirdness; though there were other guys trying their best to
compete with them for that title. Other
than again mentioning that I will never, ever been seen feeding my boyfriend as
if he was a baby in a high chair, complete with the baby talk; let’s skip over
the rest of the dinnertime goofiness.
The really good parts of the evening included helping out
with making the meal and decorating the house.
The awesome food deserves getting mentioned again; Michael and I had fun
chatting with his parents; and Jenny kept Rebecca more entertained with her
antics than their dinner conversation.
There were two birthday cake options, and I loved the cherry chip –
angel food version that had a creamy whipped fruit filling and the
always-awesome creamy icing. That
decision wasn’t because the decadent chocolate cake was nearly gone by the time
Michael and I were able to make our choices; but getting to have larger pieces
of the less-popular cake was a very nice bonus.
We sang the birthday song when the cakes were brought into
the dining room; though I’d say that about half the teens thought that they
were too cool to do more than mumble along – or they just pretended to be
singing. Rebecca opened her gifts while
the cake and ice cream orders were taken and delivered; so by the time Michael
and I sat down again with his parents to have our desserts; most of the teens
had already finished eating and were set free to move the party into the living
room.
That gave us a little break in the action, but then it was
back to work for a fairly major clean-up.
Rebecca stopped in for a couple of long visits while we
worked; and later, while Michael and I were having a guitar practice in his
room, she stopped in and ended up sitting with us for nearly twenty minutes
before anyone in the living room even noticed she was gone and came looking for
her. She was okay with that because all
of the games she and Jenny had put together were for couples, and while she
could play ‘game show hostess’; that wasn’t always much fun when all of her
friends had someone they were cuddling and playing with.
Since it was a school night, the party started wrapping up
at nine; and the best part of the night for some of us started after the last
teen guests had left. Jacob had brought
their Christmas tree inside last night and set it up in the living room
sometime during the day; and I was invited to stay and decorate it with
them. That wasn’t only special for me
because it was another first-ever event with my boyfriend. I really loved getting to hear some Stone
family Christmas stories; Rebecca was very happy to end her big day with the
tree trimming; and we collectively made one of those family moments worth
remembering forever.
Doing that tonight meant that I missed out on Ethan and
Ehlana’s bedtime, but I stopped in to give them kisses while they slept after
having a bedtime chat and doing the daily recap with Mom and Dad before coming
up to my room for the night. Other than
the chat with Rowen and listening to Christmas music, I’ve been studying and
working on some family business since getting changed and climbing into bed
with Mandy. I don’t have anything
newsworthy to report from any of that work, and the only reason I’m writing
this when it’s only a bit after two is because Mom let me skip my Magi lesson
tonight. We probably shouldn’t have done
that, since we’ll probably miss our lesson tomorrow night too if Mom’s as tired
as usual after a big city shopping trip; but then I should have been sleeping
at least an hour ago.
Michael and I are skipping Tai Chi in the morning so that we
can help out with the breakfast buffet at the Inn in the morning; and we’ll
help out after school too because Jacob is expecting a big father-and-kids
dinner out night while the Moms are away.
That won’t be as much fun as some alone time with Michael would be, and
he’ll miss a day off this week; but then we probably still owe his parents for
letting him have the day off for Rowen’s birthday and the football game last
Friday.
That is what we’ll be doing starting in a bit over four
hours, though, so I’d better put my computer away now and get what sleep I
can. We’re supposed to have another
decent weather day tomorrow, so getting snowed in overnight with Michael isn’t
going to happen; but I can definitely dream about it – and will give that a try
right now.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
