This has been the hottest day of the year
so far; and everyone working at the Inn got to have a reminder of just how hot
that can be in the summer – even with air conditioning. I know this because I was there and hanging
out with Rebecca, Jenny, Michael, and everyone else during the buffet shift.
Before I get to that, though; let’s cover
the rest of the news for the day.
Tai Chi for four this morning was awesome;
and then Mom and Dad got a surprise invitation to go with me to the Stone’s
house for their Sunday morning family breakfast. That was an extra-special hour or so of
family fun, and though Ethan and Ehlana had fun with Aiden, Naomi, and her
family too; I still felt a little sad that they missed out on the great food
and play time with Mom, Dad, and me.
We made up for that after church with a
family barbeque lunch at our house, and while Dad had some work to get done; he
waited to do that until after I went to help out at the Inn, and spent the rest
of the afternoon playing with Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and me. By the way, did I mention it was fairly hot
today? Our afternoon play time included
a lot of floating around and playing in the river with just a bit of park
playground time and an ice cream cone run to the Emporium that was timed so
that Michael could join us for that. Rowen
and Tim were doing their own family things today – and together – so we didn’t
see them much except at church and for a couple of minutes while they were at the
Inn for dinner with his family.
The hours of work at the Inn were pretty much
all of the crazy-busy variety. It wasn’t
an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ day; but since nearly every campground in the area was
full for the Fourth of July holiday week; the dining room was packed; and there
wasn’t really an early-late buffet – just one continual one with tables being
turned over as quickly as possible. That
also meant just keeping the food coming continually, and while buffets were a
bit easier in that the menu is a specific number of dishes each week; it’s
still a daunting amount of work to feed what ended up being more than five
hundred customers. There are probably
lots of big city restaurants where five hundred would be a quiet night – not including
fast food joints that live on volume; but that is a lot of customers for the
Inn.
There was a need for extra heat-relief
breaks today too, so while I’m not actually employed there or on the schedule;
Miranda and Jacob were glad to have the extra hands to help out while making
sure that nobody got over-heated or over-worked in the kitchen. That was a bit easier for the servers who
were able to stay cooler in the dining room; but it was a tough shift for
everyone. It didn’t even help to go
outside on breaks – it was too hot to cool down. Jumping in the river would have been nice;
but not very comfortable when it came time to go back to work again in wet
clothes.
Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana were having a
quiet evening at home, and I was occasionally tempted to call it a night early
once the last of the food had gone out to the dining room; but couldn’t bring
myself to leaving everyone else there to finish the job and just walking away –
even though nobody would have minded. I
have been running all day on just a couple of hours of sleep, though, so once
we were finished at the Inn; the only thing I was interested in doing with
Michael – or anyone else – was hopping in the river for a cool-down swim before
going home to bed.
Michael and I did that at my house, and
while we certainly weren’t alone in the river; we weren’t bothered by the gang
over at his house either. We swam for a
half-hour; spent a little cuddle time on the dock before deciding that I was
too tired and it was too hot out to do that; and then Michael went home for the
night and I came up to my room. There
was a stop in the office on the way through, and Ethan and Ehlana were still
up; but I only stayed for a round of hugs and kisses before continuing on up
here.
Another bedtime shower was in order, though
not mandated by my cat this time; so that took another fifteen minutes –
including drying my hair. I know, that’s
impossible; but it isn’t when you’re a Magi Master and cheat with a little
time-phasing. I’ve only been in bed for
about two ‘real-time’ minutes now, but continued the time-phase so that I could
get my nightly computer checks and this update done.
I’m there now, and really need to crash and
get a decent night of sleep, so that’s all for now; and, until next time…
…Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the
Light!
