I have loved doing five hotel sleepovers
with my friends; but I’m also very glad to be home in my own room tonight;
getting to spend some quality time with my Jacuzzi; and now cuddling in bed
with Mandy.
It’s been a crazy-busy day, and I’m getting
tired fast after not getting much sleep last night; so let’s get started on the
top news.
Happy 1st Birthday, Leah!
Her big day started while we were still at
the airport in Washington this morning; dealing with boarding passes, luggage
checks, and clearing security. I can’t
resist mentioning here that our Capitol city is quite possibly the least ‘free’
place in the entire ‘Land of the Free’ – in more than one way. President Obama is back in the (White) house
after his trip to Asia, and since he does have a daughter who is just a few
months younger than me; I can’t help wondering why he doesn’t seem to have a
problem with using such invasive security systems on anyone; but particularly
on teenage girls.
All of that is another collectively big
reason for why I’m glad to be home again.
We don’t find much need for scanners, metal detectors, bomb-sniffing
dogs, or heavily armed security around here; and I’m not going to miss dealing
with that in Washington. I’d invite the
President to come for a visit and bring a few Senators and Congresspersons to
find out what freedom and community looks like, but then they’d just haul all
of that security along with them; make our lives here hell for a few hours; and
never get to see what ‘real’ life is like here anyway.
Getting back to the story, though, I have
to admit that I was a bit nervous at the airport this morning after seeing
Gawain yesterday. He has the power and
resources available to him that could make things interesting for me if he
tried to have my cover identity blown up or questioned. Nothing happened today either; and I didn’t
have any problems clearing security again – or at least no more trouble than
every passenger has to deal with now.
Our flight out was close to on-time, and that was a good thing because
our return layover stop was short; so we didn’t really have much of a break at
all before we were in the air again and winging our way home.
After a very early wake-up call so that we
could be checked out and at the airport by seven-thirty, everyone in our group
was glad to be back at our ‘home’ airport this afternoon; and though we’d still
had the long drive home ahead of us, we were pretty upbeat and excited. Since Uncle Nick had already missed out on a
lot of Leah’s big day, he was particularly interested in getting home again; so
it was his idea to hit a drive thru for fast food to go once we’d rounded up
our luggage and loaded up into five cars, trucks, and minivans. Rowen, Tim, Michael, and I were with Tracey
again for the ride home, and I rode in the front seat with Tracey this time so
that Rowen and Tim could sit together.
When we stopped for food, I picked up extra to take home to Aunt Leanne;
but the timing wasn’t really great for that with Leah’s birthday dinner on the
schedule – not that she had a problem with that when Michael and I delivered
the food to her.
We pulled into the school parking lot at
four-thirty, and while we weren’t late; we still had a full welcoming committee
for every teen, so somebody must have called or texted ahead with our ETA. Mom, Aunt Leanne, Ethan, and Ehlana were
there to get Michael and me; and I’m not at all embarrassed to admit that I was
the first teen to run to my family and get started on the welcome home hugs and
kisses. That little reunion took a while
by the time we’d transferred luggage, had a little visit, and I’d done some
goodbye hugs and kisses with friends I wouldn’t see again until Sunday at
church or Monday at school.
Mom drove back to our house, and Ethan
‘helped’ Michael with taking his luggage home while I had three helpers to get
mine inside and up to my room – except for the bag of laundry I left in the
laundry room before taking everything else upstairs. Aunt Leanne microwaved her fast food snack
before coming upstairs too; and we had a little girl chat time while waiting
for Michael and Ethan to join us.
Michael and I only had time to hand out some souvenirs before we needed
to take a few more with us – and Leah’s birthday gifts – and hurry over to the
Ayres’ house to help out with the party.
Sometimes, our family probably seems a bit
strange to outsiders; but I usually don’t even think about the fact that Ethan,
Ehlana, and I aren’t technically related to Leah and her parents at all – and
neither are our parents and grandparents; yet they were all at the party
tonight too. Grandma and Grandpa were
already at Leah’s grandparents’ house when we got there; and they’d been
watching Zack while Aunt Leanne had been busy doing a few things with Mom
before going over to the school to get Michael and me. Zack’s still enough younger than his cousin
that Leah doesn’t find him particularly fun to hang around with; but I’m sure
that’ll change once they’re both old enough to toddle around together. Today, Leah was much more interested in
hanging out with her usual daycare friends – Hailey Draper and Rebekkah
Burroughs.
Grandma Ayres had lots of help in the
kitchen by the time we arrived, so Michael and I were put on kid-control duty
and sent outside with Ethan and Ehlana.
Uncle Nick was there already, and was outside playing with Leah and her
friends while waiting for Aunt Deborah to get there from the clinic. We had quite a few parents to wait for;
though Friday night store hours weren’t going to let everyone get away from
work. Leah’s Grandpa Ayres needed to be
at his store, and though Liz was working too; she came over during her dinner
break so that she could spend some time with us – and with Philip, Naomi, and
Eli. There’s another connection that
seems strange when you think about it – Ehlana’s best friend actually is
cousins with our non-really-related cousin.
Eli and Zack aren’t related to each other, but they are both Leah’s
cousins; and all three of them will be in the same grade when they start school
in a bit over four years from now.
Before I get started on the party report,
let’s cover a few other items of interest that I haven’t included yet. First up, the weather forecast for Washington
was for warm and sunny today after a week of clouds and rain for most of our
visit there. There was lots of rain this
week in Witch Falls too, but it’s been sunny and warmer today for our
return. Could there be a connection? Maybe, but whether there is or not; we are all
going to be happy here with some nice weather for the weekend!
Michael and I also didn’t have time to stop
in and see his parents at the Inn before Leah’s dinner; but he did see Rebecca for
a minute when he stopped in at home; and we popped into the Inn for a quick
chat, hugs, and kisses between dinner and the clean-up. Finally, there was one thing about coming
home that was particularly special for me – the change in empathic vibe around
me. That was dramatic, and while I hadn’t
really even thought about that part of my daily life at all in a long time
before our trip; I certainly appreciate being back in the light again now after
five days when I was often immersed in empathic darkness.
Leah’s party and dinner was fun,
entertaining, and occasionally a bit scary as the youngest kids managed to make
quite a mess – particularly during dinner and while eating cake and ice
cream. If it was summertime, we probably
would have just dunked the lot of them in the river to clean them off, but
since that wasn’t an option; it took a while to deal with that. Leah had lots of gifts to open, so that took
a while too; but she had help and didn’t have a problem with shredding wrapping
paper and sending it flying to find out what was inside each gift.
Michael and I were on the outside of the
action during most of that time, but that gave us a chance to talk with Ethan,
Ehlana, and Naomi while we ate; and have shorter visits with the rest of my
family. As mentioned, we checked in with
his parents at the Inn; then came back to the party and joined the clean-up
crew while some of the parents played games with Leah and her friends and
cousins. One good thing about a party
for one-year old kids is that they – the kids – run out of steam; and the
parties wrap up early. I was really glad
when Mom and Dad led a gang back to our house; we got drinks; and settled in
for some chat time in the living room.
Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne,
and Zack came home with us; and I’m sure that it’s no surprise to anyone
reading this that my close encounter with Gawain Hathorne was at the top of
their list of stories they wanted to hear about from our trip. Since there really wasn’t much to tell with
nothing actually happening; that conversation was mostly filled up with
speculation about what Gawain might have had planned and why he chose to walk
away and leave me alone. I personally
like Aunt Leanne’s suggestion that Michael and I looked so cute and happy
together that even a Dark Magi couldn’t bring himself to messing that up for
us.
There was also a general agreement that our
issues with Gawain may be done with for now; and the council will be happy to
hear that. Ethan, Ehlana, and I know
that we are not done with troubles from the Hathornes and other Dark Magi; but
it isn’t time for us to reveal anything about that with anyone else yet. This journal won’t be open to anyone before
at least some of those events happen, though; so anyone reading this in my
future will know what I mean anyway. Yes
there are parts of our future that are scary, but the Dark Magi have never allowed
an Ascension of the Light without a fight; and we have time to prepare and
train so that we’ll be ready for that future.
Going there with this report is a lot
heavier than I wanted to get tonight; so let’s move along. While the whole Dark Magi stalker thing was
the top story, Michael and I also took turns talking about the rest of our
trip; and he had many of the same impressions that I did of our
experiences. He also picked up more
empathic sensations than I would have expected without overtly using his
talents; but that might say as much about just how strong the darker emotional
vibe around the Capitol is than anything else.
Ethan, Ehlana, and Zack obviously haven’t been to Washington yet, but
everyone else in the room had been at least once; so they had stories to tell
us too as we talked about the different adventures we had each day. Grandpa had the most fun with that, adding
impossibilities to his tall travel tales that had my brother, sister, and
cousin all giggling.
We love you, Grandpa, but not even Zack is
going to buy that you rode the dinosaurs around Washington on your first visit
there that are now on display in the Smithsonian.
While Michael and I had the longest day,
everyone was tired out by ten o’clock, so when everyone else headed home; I
walked back to Michael’s house with him so we could have a little bedtime visit
with his parents and sister before we were all ready to call it a night. That was fun, though we couldn’t talk about
everything with them that we could with my family. Michael will give his mother the update about
the rest of our story sometime when they can talk privately. It was closing in on eleven o’clock by the
time Michael and I said goodnight on his front porch in a mostly non-verbal
kind of way and I got home again.
Ethan and Ehlana were in bed by then, but I
stopped in for chats with them after walking upstairs with Mom and Dad when we
were all ready to head up to our rooms.
I haven’t gotten the full report of everything that happened here while
we were away, but we’ll finish that in the morning, and other than Uncle Adam’s
new minivan news; it sounds as though it was a fairly quiet, damp, and
uneventful week. The jokes were already
flying around tonight about it being quiet because I was away, but Aunt Leanne
always gets those jokes too; so I’m in pretty good company there.
As I already mentioned, some quality
Jacuzzi time was first on my list once I was in my room again, and it was
closing in on twelve-thirty by the time I climbed into bed with Mandy and my
computer. My cat was not particularly
interested in my trip, but she was happy to have me home and we had a little
telepathic chat while I caught up on some of the scratching I wasn’t able to
share with her while I was away – not that she wasn’t getting lots of attention
from Ethan and Ehlana instead. There
were some email waiting for me to deal with, including some work-related
inquiries that I took care of before moving on to the rest of my usual nightly
computer checks. I’ve worked through all
of that as quickly as possible, but it’s still late now; and I’ve got a busy
yard and house work day ahead of me.
Getting back to Tai Chi by the river is going to be great too, and while
I can think of things I’d rather do on a beautiful Saturday that doesn’t
include working all day; at least I’ll be getting to do that with my family.
There are other things that I should do an
update on too – like certain family pregnancies; but I’ll take care of that
sometime this weekend. For now, I’ve had
enough fun; so, until next time…
…Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the
Light!
