Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 2nd Birthday, Nolan Ryan!
While our Johnson clan cousin’s special day
is a top story for Ryan and his family; we didn’t actually have anything to do
with his celebration beyond the group gift that was sent to him.
As for our news of the day, the top stories
are from Naomi’s birthday party. Yes,
Ehlana, her favorite stories happened once we were alone for the co-ed
sleepover part of our night, but I am not going to write about that at all; and
I’m sure that you and the rest of your girlfriends heard more about that than I
want to know about – and certainly more than I’d ever share with Aiden or any
of the guys!
We do need to write about the rest of the
details from Naomi’s birthday; so let’s get to that. Ehlana and I went over to Naomi’s house early
yesterday to help get her day off to a happy start – though Ehlana helped with
that more than I did by joining in on extra hair and dress-up time with the
help of my future mother-in-law. They
had fun with that; Naomi liked the first round of gifts we had for her; and I
really appreciated how amazing she looked by the time we met up with Aiden and
headed for school. Our academic
adventures were good, but the highlights of our school day included bonus
birthday fun with Naomi at breaks that included more gifts and bakery treats and
a special lunch that Ehlana and I took care of with support from Aiden. The first school band practice wasn’t
something we could skip because we’re getting ready for the seniors’ Valentine’s
Day luncheon that we’ll be playing at next month, but that wasn’t really a big
deal for Naomi’s birthday dinner and party.
The highlights from last evening included
the dinner that included Pizzeria pizza but also had a selection of finger food
sides that we helped to cook – with the ‘we’ excluding Naomi for obvious
reasons. She didn’t need to help with
the clean-up either, but led our ‘live’ music that we played for our friends
while they enjoyed the dancing. There
was only a minor bit of video gaming for the guys and a movie that Naomi picked
– the first part of the Wicked musical that was also one of her gifts. I’ve skipped over that part of her birthday
party, and she did love the gifts from her family and friends, but that really
isn’t the most-important thing for Naomi; and she loved sharing the happy
moments with some of her favorite people.
I should add that her future in-laws were there for dinner too; and Mom
and Dad also kept her parents company while the house was over-run with teens.
Eli gave his sister a brother-free night
and went home with Zack before the music and movie. The rest of her guests headed for their homes
by eleven o’clock; and I’ve already mentioned that details of our co-ed
sleepover won’t be written about here in our journals. We had fun; didn’t get a lot of sleep; and I
took care of the Magi-powered, fatigue healing that we needed this
morning. Naomi’s party was a top news
story at school; we had a good day; and then Ehlana and I play-worked at the
lab or archives until dinnertime. Dinner
with Mom and Dad was quiet and on-time; and then our four best friends came
over again for another study evening.
Mom did a group Magi lesson with us after our study session; we had a
music practice after that; and wrapped up our evening with some co-ed cuddle
and chat time before our friends needed to head for their homes. We took Silkie for a walk while seeing Naomi
and Aiden to their houses, but it was chilly; so we kept the goodnight hugs and
kisses short and hurried home again.
Ehlana and I have been wrapping up our day with
the usual computer checks and twin chat time, but before we go there for a
quick update; I should add that Ehlana and Aiden enjoyed their co-ed sofa
sleepover last night too. For some
reason, she’s suddenly uninterested in having me write down any of those
details, and that’s inconsistent; since she thought it a great idea for the
stories about Naomi and me! I will
happily stay true to my own thoughts on the issue, though; so let’s just admit
that we all had fun last night and move on.
Cassie and Michael have finished day three
of their time in Costa Rica; they had some sightseeing today along with two
meetings; and they’ve discovered yet another country that they love a lot and
will need to visit again sometime for more than just work. We’d love to go along for any of those future
‘fun’ trips, but we’ll see whether that’ll be an option for us between now and
when we start college.
As for world news, there may be a ceasefire
between Israel and Hamas, but we’ll reserve judgment; since this appears to be
political theatre ahead of the inauguration on Monday and might mean nothing
that will actually help the Palestinians being killed, injured, and
starved. There are ongoing reports of
infrastructure damage, with the most-recent related to attacks on a gas
pipeline in Turkey. The precedent set by
the NordStream bombing is going to have long-term impact on the world; and we’ll
hope for better while expecting nothing when the worst that people can be is
more-likely. Ukraine continues to be
ugly for everyone involved; and something needs to be done before there is
nothing left of Ukraine – and the estimates to rebuild from the damage already
done will hit trillions of dollars.
Sure, there are likely corporations willing to help with that in exchange
for ‘owning’ everything while the surviving people serve them for decades to
come and be happy in their servitude, but it remains to decide whether that
will be western or eastern masters.
That is fairly-depressing, but then that’s
true for most of the problems in the world.
Here in our country, wildfires are still a big story, but politics is
ramping up into the inauguration as the outgoing power players do their worst
to make the job of running the country tougher for the incoming leaders for no other
reason than petty narcissism. Our Grade
Eight trip is going to be very interesting for bad reasons if politics is going
to be this toxic for the next four years.
Okay, that’s enough for tonight. Ehlana and I are happy, tired, and ready to
get some sleep now – so we will.
Until next time, live with love, fellow
Magi of the Light!
