Happy Birthday, Grandma!
I wish we could celebrate it with you, but it sounds as
though Grandpa has made sure you’ve had a happy day while doing some
sightseeing in Pakistan.
Grandma’s birthday wasn’t the big story today, obviously;
but her special day is more important to me than the results of the Super Bowl
– or anything else that happened today.
We got to have a little chat with Grandma and Grandpa before
breakfast, but that didn’t last long, and Dad, Rowen, and I needed to keep
moving while having that too-short phone call while we cooked and kept up with
Ethan, Ehlana, and their friends.
Getting everyone fed and ready for church was fun and crazy; and we
somehow managed to be ready to go by the time that Naomi and Aiden were picked
up and Rowen and I walked Sophia to her house before catching a ride with Dad
and the twins.
I know there were only ten women on the weekend getaway
trip, but since so many of them were my family or closest friends; it seemed
very quiet by comparison at church – at least while we were in the
sanctuary. Sunday school was fairly
normal; though being in between major holidays means it’s quieter in our
classes too as we focus more on lessons.
I don’t think that having his wife away for the weekend impacted Pastor
John’s plans for the service today, but he did set his congregation free after
only an hour and ten minutes today. Mom
and Aunt Leanne may hear about it this week, but some of the guys were only
half-joking about how quickly they were on our way home after church without
all of the girl chat today.
That’s something I didn’t hear about until later at the Inn because I went there right after church with Michael;
and spent the rest of the day there until after the Super Bowl ended.
Before I get to the details of that, let’s get the football
action and news out of the way. It
wasn’t much of a game unless you’re a Seahawks fan, and in case the forty-three
to eight score isn’t enough of a hint; it really was that lop-sided. More than half of the people at the Inn pretty much just stopped watching the game by shortly
into the third quarter, and even when it didn’t yet look like a blowout yet;
the Broncos never really seemed to be in any danger of getting their act
together. That left quite a few people
feeling disappointed, but since I really can’t get all that motivated or
excited about pro sports in general; I’m mostly just relieved that the season
is over.
Our work and play time at the Inn
was way more interesting and fun; though it also wasn’t quite the same without
Miranda there. The lunch rush was as
packed as always, but we had the added job today of getting the dining room set
up for the Super Bowl buffet and party once we’d finished feeding about two
hundred and fifty people. While Michael
continued to help out with the clean-up in the kitchen; Rebecca and I were part
of the dining room crew for that extra work.
We had the pre-game show on the televisions by the time it started and
our first guests began arriving – including Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana. The rest of the guys and kids in my family
and most of our friends were at the Inn by
four; though Rowen and Tim were at his Uncle and Aunt’s house until just before
dinnertime.
Michael, Rebecca, and I were set free to have dinner with
everyone once the foods for the ‘special’ buffet went out; and we ended up at a
table with Rowen, Tim, and the three Norton kids. The boys talked football pretty much the
entire time, which wasn’t a surprise; but one tidbit of news was interesting –
Lucas had a fairly lengthy discussion with Michael and Tim about trying out for
the school football team next season.
Tim invited him to join the weight training group in the mornings;
though I’m not sure whether that’ll work for Lucas when he also has farm chores
every morning too – like most farm teens do.
I wasn’t the only person at the table who didn’t know that
Lucas was interested in playing football, though his sister and brother
weren’t; and that probably had more to do with how quiet he usually is – at least
compared to a lot of the other guys in high school. If he looked more like his father, he’d have
likely been recruited to play, but then he’s still one of the smallest guys in
Grade Nine even though he is catching up fast this year. I really like Lucas, so if that’s what he
wants to do; I hope that works out for him; and working on that with Michael
and Tim will likely help all three of them.
So much for keeping the football news to a minimum – let’s
move along.
We had fun at dinner; and Rebecca, Rowen, Emma, and I
managed to keep ourselves entertained even with all of the sport chat with the
guys. Some of us still had work to do
after that, though, so Michael, Rebecca, and I were back in the kitchen and
helping with the post-dinner clean-up for about an hour and a half before being
set free again to rejoin the party.
Michael and I spent as much time with Ethan, Ehlana, their friends, and
our collective fathers as we did with our own friends after that; and played
games more than we watched the game on the big screens. Michael and Tim got into some video game
football action too, and since there weren’t that many of their own friends at
the Inn; Rebecca and Lucas spent a lot of their time together – and with Tim
and Rowen.
When the game mercifully – for the Broncos and their fans –
ended, there was a collective clean-up effort that included most of the guests;
and then I went straight home with Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana. I took care of bath time for the twins while
Dad went to work in the office. With Mom
still in transit home, I didn’t have my usual Sunday night Magi lesson, but it
was still late by the time I came up to my room and hopped into my Jacuzzi to
have a soak while starting on my studies, work, and nightly computing.
I’m still awake now because I wanted to stay up and wait for
Mom to get home anyway; so I’ve gotten a lot of work done tonight. None of that is particularly newsworthy; but
I’m due for a college teen update.
Super Bowl parties were big on all campuses today, and all
of my favorite college couples attended one or more party. I’m sure that my email were age-appropriate,
but it’s easy enough to read between the lines and know that all of those
parties were wilder than anything going on here in Witch Falls – even at
Sheldon’s Pub. Getting together today
was toughest for Jake and Stephanie, and they’re really finding it tough to be
apart so much of the time right now – even though they’re not living that far
away from each other on their respective campuses. The good news for them in the near future is
that they’ll be spending Valentine’s Day weekend together; and will have their
Spring Break week together too in March – though I’m sure they’ll just hang out
in a library somewhere and study day and night. ;^)
I guess that’s it for today.
Mom will be home soon, so I’m going downstairs to get a snack together
for her – and probably for Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana; since they’ll likely all
wake up once she’s here. I’m going to
skip the look at the week ahead tonight, since the only thing on the board is
my birthday on Saturday; and I have no idea what’s going on for that this
year. It’ll be another first with
Michael, though, so whatever we do; I’m sure it’ll be a best birthday ever so
far!
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
