Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 21st Birthday, Benjamin Norton!
While Ben’s family and friends are taking care of making his special day awesome; we’ve had a quiet day-so-far from Tai Chi by the river and breakfast with Mom, Dad, and our four best friends through my football workout at the park; lab or archives work-play; and another lazy afternoon of swimming and relaxing with some friends and cousins. I am currently packing for a sleepover at Naomi’s house while Ehlana will be hosting Aiden for the night; and I’m going to be with Naomi so that we can ‘host’ a special anniversary breakfast for her parents in the morning.
We can also report that we had a lot of fun last night with our friends. Dinner was grilled with salads and casserole sides; the teens took care of the clean-up; Mom did a long, group Magi lesson with us; and then we had a band practice for nearly an hour and a half before getting around to the co-ed cuddle and movies time. Along with staying up late while doing that; we also discussed plans for the band, and while we’re going to be very busy this fall; we’re also considering recording some new songs – though probably not another full album. We’re thinking more along the lines of a couple of singles and maybe an extended-play set of Christmas songs. That idea might still be ambitious, but there are songs that we like a lot and haven’t recorded before; and doing that this year might be our last chance – at least for our high school years. The movie picks were a musical and a space-alien flick; and then we only had time for naps for the handful of hours until dawn.
The rest of our news of the day will need to wait for our next update, but before we wrap this up; Cassie and Michael have had a good second day in Italy; and even with all of the work; they’re managing a bit of sightseeing along the way too. They’re mostly working in smaller communities; so they’re getting bonus opportunities to check out the natural wonders of the country.
As for world and political news, one of the top stories of the day has been a mass shooting in New York City at a Manhattan office building. We are not going to get into this news in any detail, and it is awful for the families and friends of the victims; so we also do not want to minimize the tragedy. We do want to point out that this incident is tiny compared to the daily tragedies in Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, and elsewhere as hundreds or thousands are killed every day with each of those deaths being just as devastating to their families and friends while being completely ignored in the national media. Let’s stop there, since we really wish that all of the pointless violence in the world could end – whether at a war level or individual incidents of crime and hatred.
Ehlana and I need to get going – or staying and waiting for Aiden in her case; so that’s all for this update.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
