What a way to end the month – and though
March may or may not have come in like a lion; it definitely has gone out like
a lamb! How nice was it? Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I skipped our
after-school study time in favor of playing instead – and Michael and I did our
homework after dinner at his house instead.
I’ve gotten ahead of the story; so let’s
back up to the beginning.
Happy 2nd Birthday, Brandon
Green!
While Brandon’s first birthday in his
family’s new home was a big deal for them; I’m really only mentioning it because
Brandon occasionally plays with Ethan and Ehlana at church or KidZone; though
he’s enough younger that he can’t always keep up with the twins and their usual
group of playmates. Ethan isn’t close
enough to Brandon to be invited to the party today; but Aiden was – though that
had more to do with the two boys being neighbors now than anything else.
We weren’t having birthday party kind of
fun around home this morning, but I did enjoy the good morning hugs and kisses
with Michael; our Tai Chi; and a fairly quiet morning before meeting up with
Rowen and heading off to school. We had
a bit of rain this morning, but nothing major; and it had moved out of the area
well before lunchtime so that spending time outdoors was an option.
The mood around school was pretty upbeat for
a Monday. Part of that was due to the
weather – even with the morning rain; but being done with March seems to have
everyone thinking that spring really is here.
Then again, it could just be that there are a lot of kids and teens
spending the day working on perfect April Fool’s Day jokes for tomorrow; and
there’s really no deeper meaning to the happy at all.
There are some other signs of spring fever
around the school. The countdown to
Easter seemed to start in earnest today, and as usual; that starts with the
youngest kids as they work on themed lessons and crafts. That’ll make for a colorful change to the
displays and walls around the school, and while that would probably get laughed
about by teens at high schools in cities; it’s never a problem here – or if it
is with any teen; they’re at least smart enough not to voice those opinions.
While there aren’t those kinds of problems
at our school, spring fever and teen drama go hand-in-hand, and even in our
little town; the battles can be intense and there can be casualties –
particularly of the broken heart variety.
As I think about that, the strangest part of the teen drama here might
be the fact that there aren’t that many players in the show. That doesn’t mean that there is never any
drama with the ‘permanent’ teen couples; but they also don’t usually do much of
the break-up and make-up kind of thing either. The real drama comes from the teens that haven’t
‘found their match’ yet. This year, for
example, there are only three senior high school teens still in that group; and
they account for most of the drama. The
scale flips the other way down through the grades to mine, so there are more
active players in Grade Eight; and there’s still a majority of my classmates in
search of their most-compatible boyfriend or girlfriend.
There are times when I wonder what that
must be like, but I certainly wouldn’t trade what Michael and I have just to
find out for myself. I also don’t think
that I’d like being on either side of a heartbreak either; though I guess that
I have been to some extent with Patrick’s crush on me – and through being the
girl for Michael that Vanessa and Lisa wish they could have been.
That’s gotten off-track, and way too heavy
for such a nice day; so let’s get back to the update.
I’m not going to get into every teen drama
story, and don’t want to pick on Jenny; but I hear more about her problems with
Garth that most other stories, and they do manage to cover quite a bit of the
range of troubles those ‘temporary’ couples seem to deal with. In their case, part of their problem is
simple geography – he’s out on the family farms and she’s here in town – and without
him around far too often for her liking.
It was one thing last fall when he was staying after school every day
for football and had the Friday night games.
After that, there was the Christmas holidays, and then Jenny wasn’t all
that interested in being out and about during the worst of winter; but that’s
changing again now. The bad news for
Garth is that this is also a very busy time of year for his family, and hanging
out with Jenny after school instead of working in the greenhouses isn’t an
option.
That doesn’t work for Jenny at all, and
while it’s by no means their only issue; it is a problem when she compares them
to other couples – particularly the other footballers and cheerleaders. Jenny doesn’t have any immediate prospects
for her next boyfriend, and I think that Garth is still hoping that they can
work things out; but I’m not the only person around them to see the writing on
the wall. They may drag it out until
summertime; but I doubt it will be quite that long before they break up.
So much for moving along! Let’s try a bit harder to get back to the
normal news of the day.
With Tim in our little best-friend
foursome, warm weather means football; and he had Michael and some of the other
guys tossing a ball around at lunchtime while Rowen and I sat on the bleachers
with some of the other girls. We were
invited to join in, but the grass was still wet from the morning rain; and we
didn’t feel like spending the afternoon wet or dirty. Michael managed to get through that with
nothing worse than wet shoes and socks; but Tim had to change into one of his
gym tees, and spent the next couple of hours with wet pants thanks to putting a
bit too much effort into his game play.
We were back outdoors again for Phys-Ed class, and while what we did
wasn’t as important to any of us as just being outside; I didn’t mind running
some laps around the track or playing a bit of soccer instead of our usual
gymnasium action. We will get to be
outdoors for Phys-Ed more as we move into April and it’s time for our track and
field and soccer modules; and I’m really looking forward to that a lot.
It was as we were heading inside again to
hit the showers that Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I decided to blow off our study
session and play instead until dinnertime.
That might be a problem for some teens – at least for their parents –
but mine don’t have an issue for obvious reasons; and even Tim’s parents cut
him some slack today – something they might not have done before he started
studying with the rest of us every day.
Then again, he’d have avoided studying at all if he could manage it in
those ‘before’ times. ;^)
So instead of studying, we grabbed our
bikes, went for a ride; took Ethan and Ehlana to the park for some playground
time; the boys played more football while we were there; and then Michael and I
dropped the twins off at my house before going on to his for dinner with his
parents and Rebecca. The only change
from our normal Monday evening was the study session in the dining room after
we’d cleaned the kitchen. The meal,
guitar lesson, and wind down cuddle and chat in the living room with Miranda
and Jacob was the same – and as much fun as always.
I was home again in time to tuck Ethan and
Ehlana in for the night and hear about their new college ‘classes’; but missed
the bedtime story and snack. Mom did my
Magi lesson after that, and the rest of my evening was all study and work and
not much fun. There certainly isn’t
anything from that blast of computer action worth writing about here, and I
should probably get as much rest as I can tonight anyway – just in case there
are April Fool’s Day pranks directed my way tomorrow. Michael and Tim haven’t tried anything since
my first year here and those no-hugging-zone posters, and Patrick and Scott
have been pretty good so far in the New Year; but I’ll still be ready for
anything just in case – and there are bound to be pranks and gags going on
tomorrow; even if they aren’t targeted specifically at me.
Whatever happens, it should be an
interesting day, so I’m out of here and off to dream land. Until next time…
…Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the
Light!
