Happy 13th Birthday, Gretchen!
We’re just about out of twelve-year olds in my class now,
and after going to quite a few of the parties; I’ll have to put this one up
near the top as one of the best.
Before I get to that, though; let’s do a college-teen
update. Jake and Stephanie are back in New York now; though
they’re staying in a hotel tonight because their residential halls don’t open
until tomorrow. I’m sure that the
decision to do their flight today had nothing to do with getting one night
alone together before being split up again between now and Spring Break. They won’t be coming home for that break
either; though they haven’t decided for sure what they are going to do instead. Violet and Dillon are doing the same thing
with the hotel sleepover; while Josiah and Christina are spending part of the
weekend with her family on their way back to school on Sunday.
As I inferred with yesterday’s report; my day started off
fun – even though the jokes and teasing were mostly directed at me after
falling asleep last night. It really
isn’t very likely that I inherited that from Mom; but I am going to need to
re-evaluate my schedule and think about lightening it up just a bit. Yeah, I know; and it probably won’t happen
for me any more than it does for Mom and Dad.
Taking one or two things off of our plates usually just ends up making
room for new jobs.
Work wasn’t on my mind at all while we were busy playing all
day. The fun started when we met up in
front of the Inn before heading off to Crystal Springs. We did that mostly because it didn’t make
much sense for everyone to head out to Gretchen’s place only to come back
through town again on our way to the city.
Her parents had recruited drivers; and had room for thirteen teens and
kids; including Gretchen’s brothers and sister.
Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were put together with Sally’s parents for
the round-trip because they were two of the drivers; but Sally was with her
best friend, Gretchen and their boyfriends.
Michael, Tim, and Rowen don’t really know Sally’s parents
much better than I do despite going to school with her since they were
five. We do all like them, though, and
had fun talking with them for the hour and a half it took us to get to the Mall
– our first stop on Gretchen’s birthday itinerary. We – the five teen couples – were set free
once we were in the Mall; and had two hours to shop and wander around until we
needed to meet up with our six adult chaperones and Gretchen’s brothers and
sister for lunch.
By then, I could sense that the three younger kids were
feeling a bit left out; so Michael and I had lunch with them and we both earned
some bonus points for that both with the kids and parents. That was more work for Michael than it was
for me because Gretchen’s brothers were a handful and only wanted to hang out
with him; while her sister, Wendy, was happy to chat with me while doing her
best to ignore her brothers’ antics.
The movie theatre was our next stop, and while we all had
the option to see anything; Gretchen picked ‘The Hunger Games – Catching Fire’,
so all of her friends chose to do that with her while everyone else went to see
‘Frozen’. My theatre experience is as
limited as it is for all of my friends, so that was the same for all of us; but
some of us had the added bonus newness of movies with boyfriends – or
girlfriends. Going with a bigger group
of friends was new for me too, and while I wouldn’t suggest that we were at
risk of getting in trouble; there was some popcorn getting tossed around, and
the film wasn’t the only entertainment for the couple of hours and change we
were there. I won’t critique the movie
here, but if you’re interested whenever you read this in the future, I did like
it; so feel free to check it out – if it’s still available to watch it – if
that’s even possible in your present.
Maybe I’ll talk to Mom about that for our archives. Other Magi Masters haven’t done much
multi-media archiving since the invention of audio and video recordings; but
that doesn’t mean we couldn’t start doing that – especially with the resources
we’ll soon have set up here in Witch
Falls. We don’t have to limit ourselves to written
records; and our archives have survived the millennia better than most ancient
knowledge. The only issue we that might
be an issue is whether the technology survives too; but that’s something to
think about more deeply some other day.
Getting back to the story, though, we went to a restaurant
after the movie, and while we would have helped out with Gretchen’s brothers and
sister again; we were put at the one, big table that had room for all ten teens
while the rest of our group was at two tables directly behind Gretchen so that
we could all join in for the birthday celebration parts of that two-hour blast
of happy memories. Gretchen opened her
gifts after our orders were taken and while appetizers and drinks were
delivered.
I’m going to take a second here to mention that it’s a
little uncomfortable for me when it comes to having my friends’ parents paying
for movies and meals like we had today – though we were on our own for buying
lunch at the food court. Gretchen’s
parents had seven boys including their own; and that’s got to be a little scary
when it comes to feeding that many growing boys at a restaurant. Michael was with me on that issue without
talking about it, so we took it easy on our orders; but Rowen and Sally were
the only other teens taking prices into account while choosing their meals; and
I would have felt a lot better if I could have helped out with the bill
tonight. Maybe I can get away with an
extra-special thank-you card for Gretchen’s parents. I’ll see what Dad and Aunt Leanne think about
that tomorrow.
Dinner was the last event of the day before we headed home,
so after doing the cake and ice cream thing for dessert; we headed home
again. Sally’s parents dropped all of us
off at Rowen’s house, but Michael and I only stayed long enough for a little
front porch chat with Rowen and Tim before they went inside and I took Michael
home with me. We were back in time to
have a visit with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana; then help with getting the twins
off to bed before coming up to the lounge for some alone time that included
mostly not watching the first Hunger Games movie. Okay, yes, I recorded every moment of the
film into my photographic memory, but trust me; replaying the Michael and me
action is way more entertaining!
Mom and Dad gave us the goodnight hugs, kisses, and ‘time
for Michael to head home’ visit when they went to bed shortly before the movie
ended. You might be wondering if they
caught us doing anything that might be too hot for them to handle as parents,
but that won’t ever happen – and that’s one advantage for the teens that comes
with our connections to each other. I’ll
always know where they are – just as they know where I am.
And ‘normal’ teens think that parental GPS tracking is
unfair! ;^)
I guess that’s pretty much it for tonight. Our goodnight hugs and kisses took a while,
but Michael was on his way home before midnight; and I came back upstairs and
got ready for bed right away. The only
computer check I did tonight was for email – mostly to check and make sure that
my favorite, travelling college teens were somewhere safe. For some reason, the two couples that are
staying in hotels tonight only sent ‘we arrived safe’ messages with no
details. I’m sure they were probably all
just tired out after long a long travel day and went to bed early.
Sleeping is likely optional; but let’s not go there or I’ll
be wishing that Michael was still here with me.
It is time for me to get some sleep, though, so I’m going to
wrap this up now. Dad got some work done
today, but will still be busy tomorrow; so we won’t have much going on after
church. I’ll probably spend some time
with Ethan and Ehlana tomorrow afternoon, and then do the full buffet shift
with Michael and Rebecca. That’ll seem
quiet compared to today, but I’m good with a lazy day; and Mom and I are going
to have a very busy week while Dad’s in Crystal Springs. With that in mind, I’m out of here; so...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
