Ehlana and Ethan:
Happy 15th Birthday, Sophia!
Happy 31st Birthday, Stephanie Stone!
Those best wishes are in the right order for us – though family and chronological order favors Stephanie! There wasn’t a joint party or dinner for them tonight either, but that was mostly because Sophia was busy with music practices; so she really only had a short, Pizzeria pizza dinner party between band and teen praise team practices with a comparatively-small group of family and friends. Stephanie had a party too and is getting a kid-free night, but we don’t have many details on that yet; and won’t want to hear the stories that she might be happiest about by tomorrow. We do know that Cassie and Michael left gifts for both of them; we did our best to help Sophia with making her day special – including while we were at school and busy with the practices; and she is sharing a co-ed sleepover with Aaron tonight after we left them on their own a little while ago. She is also very happy to join the beginner-driver’s club this morning; and that was another highlight of her day.
As for our non-birthday adventures, Tai Chi was by the river; we had a standard school-day breakfast; and then our academic and music adventures were good but not noteworthy beyond the birthday fun we’ve already mentioned. While we were busy with practices and Sophia’s birthday dinner; our younger cousins had baseball practices and a Pizzeria pizza picnic dinner at the park as the kids and parents ate when they could during one or the other practice times – or both for the boys that also munched on slices of pizza during their own practices. This is a good place to mention that Grandma and Grandpa got home today too from their winter adventures in the sunny south, and while we didn’t get to see them yet; they did go to that practice-and-picnic to spend some time with the rest of their favorite younger kids and teens and parents. We’ll catch up with them sometime this week, but they’ll be busy too as they settle into their still-newish home and deal with any work that hasn’t been kept up for them while they were away.
Sophia brought her five best friends home with her after the practice at the church for a couple of hours of teen time and a movie. Ethan and I were tempted to keep Naomi and Aiden here with us tonight after leaving Sophia and Aaron to their co-ed sleepover plans, but we resisted the urge. Silkie got picked up along the way when we walked Naomi and Aiden to their homes; we only did a visit with Mom and Dad after we got back again; and now we’re wrapping up the day with the usual twin chat and computing. No, that isn’t as much fun as a co-ed sleepover would be, but we’ll survive; and probably get a bit more rest too! ;^)
Cassie and Michael aren’t getting a lot of rest tonight. They worked in Detroit all day and into the early evening with meetings and work or charity meals; and now they are still on the way to Akron, Ohio. Mom and Dad passed their news on to us because we missed another vid-chat, but then we also got an update through Sophia after her birthday breakfast vid-chat call with them this morning – a conference call link that they also did with Stephanie and her family. We also know that they have done a couple of stops along the way tonight, but the blips of sightseeing happened before dark. Their work in Detroit today included some manufacturing revival; transportation for both crossings into Canada and Great Lakes shipping; and urban revival and reclamation projects. The city still has a lot of problems, but there is potential too – just as there is for many of the cities in our country that have been decimated by political and business decisions over the past decades that were all about power and wealth with no care for the people.
Ethan and I are not going to get into any rants tonight about economics or any of the other problems in the world. Diplomacy and politics were at the heart of most of the top news stories of the day, but not because anything real happened. A meeting in Armenia was just another photo op for western leaders with no serious work on peace or anything beyond appearances of unity. Stresses remain high in the Middle East and Ukraine; and there are likely multiple threats voiced by leaders for every instance of dovish claims. We really don’t want to get into a rant tonight; so let’s stop there.
We’ve had a good day; the bits of celebrating that we were able to do with Sophia was awesome; and we are happy now as we head off to our beds and dreamland. Let’s hope that the rest of our week will continue on that track!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
