Ehlana and Ethan:
Mother Nature seems to be grieving with Michael and his family this weekend, and while the rain was sporadic between Friday night and last night; it has been steady and ongoing today. That’s how we feel today too, but before we get to Magi empathy and how that affects us at sad times; let’s do a quick recap of our lives since the last update.
As expected last night, we didn’t get to spend much time with Cassie and Michael, but we – our family –helped with the work at Jake and Stephanie’s home as their family arrived – excluding the cousin that ended up staying back at home until today and then coming here once Grandpa Lloyd’s body was released and transported to the funeral home here. Naomi and Aiden helped us with some kid control while there too, but the Bassett clan was there in force too; so Stephanie had lots of help – and so did Jacob, Miranda, and Jake as they were each able to join in after leaving the Inn for the night. We came home in time for Cassie and Michael’s arrival; helped them too; and then needed to let them go over to be with his family. We were on our own after that until we fell asleep on the sectional sofa in the lounge, but the all-night co-ed cuddling was all about comfort; and we were all sad and having a quietly-tough time.
Cassie and Michael didn’t get home again until long-after we were asleep, but we helped them as much as we could this morning. Doing our morning workout seemed both strange and calming; Cassie and Michael appreciated the extreme-fatigue healing help that Mom helped us to give them; and then they were off again – this time to help with the work for a fairly-major family breakfast at Jake and Stephanie’s house. We didn’t try to make that tougher; had our quiet little breakfast here; and then we tried to stay out of the way while at the church too; since pretty much everyone in the Stone family was overwhelmed by the condolences that their friends and neighbors wanted to offer them before and after the service. Grandpa Lloyd was talked about during the service; Pastor John led a comparatively-solemn service; and even our Sunday school classes were toned down from normal. Most of the kids and teens don’t even know Grandpa Lloyd and Grandma Francis, but everyone knows and loves their hometown kids, grandkids, and granddaughter; so we’re collectively sad for them.
That made for a generally-tough day, but we were at home for lunch; helped out with Stone and Bassett family kid-control during the afternoon; and our family was on the guest list for a private dinner at the Inn that was set up mostly for Grandpa Lloyd and Grandma Francis’ closest hometown friends. There were a lot of stories being told about the ‘old days’ during that dinner, but we – the kids – were on the sidelines for that; and we didn’t spend much time with Cassie or Michael either because they pitched in to help with the work at the Inn so that Jacob and Miranda could host the meal and be with his mother, sister, and the rest of their family. We’re home now, and Naomi and Aiden have gone on to their own homes too, but this is not going to be a normal Sunday night for us. Mom convinced Dad to head for the city tonight; so he’s getting ready to do that so he doesn’t add the extra driving time to what is already going to be a very long day for him tomorrow. Cassie and Michael are still busy at the Inn, but she’s going to head back to their townhouse tonight too for the same reason – and in her case; the drive time for a round trip would have been closer to ten hours to go along with the busy school day. We won’t have much to do once Dad and Cassie are gone, but we’ll let you know how that goes for us with the next update. For tonight; we really want to write about Magi empathy and how that is affecting us so much this weekend.
Normal people that have strong empathy will usually find it tough to deal with the saddest events in their lives – or the lives of people around them. For Magi and Magi Masters, that can be a serious problem – not because of grief; but because of the cacophony of emotions that can happen with the loss of loved ones; how that affects interactions with others; and the very real emotions that go along with bringing up old memories. Grief is possibly the easiest of those emotions to deal with when you can sense everything from everyone around you. Hate and anger are just two examples of emotions that are common too; and much harder to sense and navigate around when it comes to spending time with the people having those emotions – especially when they’re either coming from someone you care deeply about or being directed at them. In this case, specific examples might be a very bad idea – even in our journals; so we won’t go there. It does still seem important to us to comment on because this reality feels a bit shocking to us compared to what is everyday normal for us here in our special little town. We’ve never suggested that we live in some happy Utopia, but whether mental or not; this is very different from the daily norm for us – and for other strongly-empathic Magi. We’ll deal with how this is affecting us as well as we can, but it is also sad to know that times of grieving don’t always bring people closer together – they can and sometimes do damage relationships. At both ends of that scale, it is personal choices that lead to the better or worse outcomes, and as Magi of the Light; it is really tough to empathically-witness when people choose to turn away from the Light and embrace choices that can only hurt others – and usually themselves too.
We’ll likely write more about this over the next couple of days, but Dad will be ready to leave soon, and we want to see him off; so that’s all for tonight.
This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!
