Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 22nd Birthday, Tim Landry!
We were a bit busy this morning with a major camping breakfast, but we still managed a video chat with our favorite collegians that included wishing Tim a happy birthday. His best friends are making sure that he’s having a great day – including a trip to Eagle Gorge with some friends; and we probably don’t need to know any details about plans that Rowen might have for him tonight – even though it is a school night for them ahead of their first day of classes for the fall semester!
While we’re thinking about college; let’s get to the commentary we wanted to offer for some of our favorite collegians that we’ve been thinking about thanks to Geraldine’s birthday.
We’re obviously excited about the start of the final year of school for Cassie, Michael, Rowen, Tim, and their college friends, but there is a lot more going on for the younger collegians – including Patrick, Jessica, and their friends and classmates. Since we started this with Geraldine, she’s already at Florida State – along with her favorite guy – Scott Faulkner; and while he’s starting his second year of electrical engineering while she’s going to be working toward a degree in English Lit and Journalism. Florida will be nice in the winters, but we wouldn’t like being that far from home for four or five years. Two of their best friends, Patrick and Jessica, might sometimes wish to be farther from home instead of at the same school with Rowen and Tim, but the advantages are important too; and they already love the townhouses option that they’ll continue to have for the rest of their college years. It’s a bonus that we’re already pretty much set up for tenants in those townhouses until we’ll need them when it will be our turn to use them!
Lindsay Faulkner is up next; she’s at Cassie’s college too, but opted for a first year in one of the residential halls instead of staying with Cassie and Michael this year. She is going to rent that townhouse with Jessica next year; and doesn’t currently have a boyfriend to deal with either from home or at college. Lindsay is going into Business-Marketing; and will eventually be the next-gen co-owner of her Mom’s store. While we’re mentioning kids of business owners; let’s also mention Garrett’s sister, Adaira Wingborough. We’ve meant to write about her earlier this summer and didn’t; so let’s do that now. Yes, Adaira is back at college again for her senior year after spending the summer here and working at the furniture store, but she’ll be back to stay next May; and will be joining her aunt, uncle, and brother to run Valleyview. The reason we wanted to write about Adaira earlier is not college-related. What we’ve found out about Adaira is that she’s a Magi – like her brother; except she appears to only have one active Magi talent – empathy. Her use of empathy is practically-passive; so not even other ‘normal’ Magi know that she uses it; and that’s definitely why it wasn’t detected before this year. It is why Adaira wants to move here to stay – even if she doesn’t really know why. We can relate, since we’ve hit empathic overload in cities and large groups; and her talent has exposed her to ugly experiences that she wants to avoid as much as possible in the future. We’ll be lucky to have her join our community; and we are happy that she’ll be joining the returning graduates next May! ;^)
This update is getting a bit disjointed, but sticking with the business-owner families; let’s continue with Jimmy Sheldon and Emma Norton. They’re starting their junior year at college; he’s taking restaurant management; and she’s taking accounting – both of them planning on joining the pub business when they graduate in two years. Moving along Witch Falls Road, we should have put Anna Marie Palmer much higher on our collegian list; since she is in her final year for her doctorate in law; and will join Dad’s law office next year – after passing her bar exams too. Cassie might get more attention for earning her doctoral degree in five years, but Anna Marie’s education has been amazing too; and we are going to be very lucky to have her here at home again!
This is getting a bit long for one update; so let’s wrap this up with three of our favorites – Dawn, Jillian, and Julian. They are all starting their senior year – and final – year of college. Dawn will reach her dream of being a pilot; Jillian will be a certified lab tech with a Bachelor’s degree in medical technology; and Julian’s business degree is all about running his extreme adventures business that will include taking groups of clients on extreme vacations like whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, hiking, biking, and caving.
Maybe we should book one of those trips for next summer!
Okay, that’s enough about collegians for tonight – let’s cover the news of the day; and then call it a night.
The major dinner last night was great; our Willows team earned a big win over the Aspens; and then the campfire was a highlight of our camping adventure while the adults that went to the pub instead managed to have a bit of fun too – even without their kids and teens! We stayed up too late; had a blast with our cousins and friends; and only had time for naps – which is why the lack of co-ed camping wasn’t really a problem. We were still up early for Tai Chi by the river; breakfast and getting everyone ready for church was a crazy-busy adventure; and then our day since then has been much quieter – including while at church and Sunday school. No, we didn’t have any naps while at church, but there did seem to be a lot of tired people in the congregation and our classes; and the Pastors and leaders may have taken pity on us – or just been tired out too.
Our campground needed to be packed up and cleaned, so we did that after church and before lunch; all of the campers headed for their own homes or elsewhere; and Mom and Dad only had Ehlana and me for the lunch meal. Dad had a lot of work to do this afternoon, so he did that; we helped Mom with some chores; and then we were set free for a lazy play afternoon that included some fun with our friends and not much activity beyond a visit to the park and a couple of swim breaks. There were only four of us for dinner at home; Mom did a Magi lesson with us after that; and we did some work in the office before heading up to the third floor for bath or Jacuzzi time.
We’ve been sharing a long bedtime twin chat since getting ready for bed; and now we’re pretty much ready to get some sleep so that we’ll be ready for another busy week of fun with our family and friends. Compared to the back-to-school week that Cassie, Michael, and their friends are about to get started on; we’ll predict that our adventures will be a lot more fun! ;^)
That is more than enough for tonight, though, and we really are ready to get some sleep; so we’re out of here!
Until next time, this little blast from your near or distant past is written for you with love from Ethan and Ehlana Proctor – twin junior Magi Masters of the Light!
