Ethan and Ehlana:
We’ve had a quiet day around here; so let’s use this update to cover other news.
At the top of our list for stories that don’t really directly affect us, Cassie, Michael, and their college friends will be starting classes tomorrow. After partying with many of them yesterday for Tim’s birthday; they’ve spent a lot of today on-campus – though the activities that are allowed now are very different from their pre-pandemic years. They can at least get together with their friends again, so while everything is not back to ‘normal’ yet; it is getting better. We’ll have more on the college news as they get started – and as football season begins in a couple of weeks; so stay tuned for at least some of those stories for you as we hear about them from Cassie and Michael.
Sticking with family news, we’re going to have lots of company for the holiday weekend, but not everyone; since the Rice clan collegians will be away at school; and some members of the Johnson-McEwan family will be busy elsewhere too. Cassie and Michael won’t be here because they’ll be busy with his football game, but we’ll have more on that when we get closer to that game. Three of our cousins are looking forward to being here for the weekend so that they can spend time with Micah, Jeremy, and Jennifer respectively; and we may have those cousins here for the last week of summer too – though that plan is still a work in progress that doesn’t have parental approval yet.
We won’t comment on why Uncle Blaine only seems to have a problem with the idea for Jaimie and Kaitlyn but not Jayden! ;^)
Moving along, we probably should – and shouldn’t – comment on the news from the past week from Afghanistan. We haven’t been around long-enough to have opposed that war from the start, but it had already gone on for a decade longer than it should have by the time we were born; and the past ten years hasn’t ultimately changed anything there for the better. It could be years or decades more before we’ll know what the impact will be from both the war and now withdrawing the military support that has allowed the Taliban to again take control of the country, but whatever happens next; we are sure that an indefinite or permanent war was and is not the answer in Afghanistan or anywhere else. We will use the family business to help out when we can; and hope the best for the people of Afghanistan.
That is just one hot-spot for bad news around the world – which is why we don’t usually get into those stories; since we wish that we could help everyone while knowing that we can’t get that done. There are always new natural disaster, conflicts, and other problems, and while we do what we can through the family businesses and charities; we won’t let all of the bad news in the world keep us from the joy and love that is most-important for all of us.
On that note, we’re going to wrap this up. We’ve had a happy day – if uneventful; we’ll do our best to fill the last two weeks of our summer break with fun and happiness; and we’ll get back to making that happen after we enjoy some quality nap time beginning right now!
This is Ethan and Ehlana Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!
