This diary entry is part 17 of 27 in Lily's diary dated 08 - February 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!!!

Tomorrow’s Friday!  Yaaaaaayyyy!!!

So today I had lots to do.  I practiced piano, I studied Japanese, I ate lunch, and then I went out to work on the lawnmower.  I opened the little hoody thing and just kind of stared at it for a while.  It had wires and hoses and belts and…  stuff!  Lots of stuff!!!  I didn’t even know where to start!!!

So I put the hoody thing back on and went to study something else.

Dave asked me later after he was done with work what I’d done, and I said “nothing.”

“Nothing?  I thought I told you…”

“I lifted the hoody thing and looked inside, then I gave up.”

“You didn’t even try?”

“Try what?”, I said frustratedly.  “I guess I could turn the key, then what?  I don’t know the first thing about how to fix one of those.  And you just tell me to fix it!  You guys did the same thing with David, telling him to cook dinner when he’d never even held a measuring cup!  What do you expect from us anyway?”

“I expect you to try!”

“Try what?,” I almost shouted.  “Try sticking my hand in a lawnmower without knowing what could hurt me?  Try getting hurt?  I appreciate what you’re trying to do but I need to be taught, not just left to hurt myself.  You told David he couldn’t use the lab without me or Beth, why don’t you care if I get hurt?”

“Of course I care, Lily.”

I sighed.  “I’m not working on that without someone to teach me.”

“Lily -“

“No,” I said.  “I’m not working on that without someone to teach me.  I want to learn, but not like that.  You can fail me or whatever, but I’m not doing it.”  I turned around and walked up the stairs.

I’d never talked to Dave like that before.  I don’t think he liked it much.  I didn’t really care.

I love Dave and Sabby, but they’re not perfect.

Sabby came up to my room a little later and sat down next to me on the bed.

“You shouldn’t have talked to Dave like that,” she said, reprovingly.

“Maybe not, but I did,” I said.  “And I meant it.”

She sighed.  “You were right,” she said.  “You could have been a little more diplomatic about it, but you’re right.  We’re supposed to be your teachers, not your doctoral sponsors.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we’re treating you like a college student, not a high school student.”

“Is Dave mad at me?”

“He’s a little hurt.  But he’ll get over it.”  She patted my knee.  “Come eat dinner.”

Dinner was quiet.  Thankfully.

After dinner, Dave and Sabby sat the three of us down and told us that while we’re still expected to learn things from the lab and from working on our projects, that he’ll be more involved in that part of our education.  He told us that that means we might have to do some stuff in the evenings, but he and Sabby will make it fair so maybe some days we can take an afternoon off.

That’s all I wanted.

He immediately took me out to the garage, popped the hoody thing, and we started to troubleshoot the lawn mower together.  Turns out it’d crank, but not start.  But I feel better about it with him guiding me.

They’re not perfect.  They make mistakes.  But what makes them good parents is they’ll admit it.  That’s one reason I love them.

Liz and Crystal comes over tomorrow!  And I hear Allison has a big event this weekend!  Wish I could go!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 16 of 27 in Lily's diary dated 08 - February 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

I finished my presentation!  It’s sooo cool!  It has videos and graphics and everything!  I learned all the parts of engines too!  I learned about the spark plugs, and pistons, and connecting rods, and bearings, and crankshaft, and flywheel too1  I learned about the transmission (sooooo many parts!) and all of the other stuff!  I don’t know if I could fix an engine, but I could tell you what might be wrong!

Maybe.

Beth and David finally finished their project too.  So we had a presentation!  They built a little robot that scooted around and scared the cat!  I explained how all the parts worked together, and everyone politely clapped.

Then Dave asked me what the differences between a gas and diesel engine are.

Crap.

More studying, I guess.  He just smirked.

Dave then took me out to the garage, where there was a shiny riding lawnmower sitting there.  I asked him what that was all about, since we didn’t have a huge lawn.  He just grinned.

“It doesn’t work.  Make it work.”

“But…”

“You wanted to learn this stuff, right?  Well, here it is.  It’s got an engine a lot like a car’s, I bought it for very little because it doesn’t work.  I’ll buy whatever tools or parts you think it needs, and I even found a service manual for it.  But I want it working by the end of the year or an explanation of why you can’t.”

“What will you do with it once it’s working?”

“I haven’t thought that far.  Just fix it.”

“I don’t…”

“Lily.  You can’t break it worse than it is.  Do you want to learn or not?”

I sighed.  “Do you know what’s wrong with it?”

“I know as much as you do.  You can start troubleshooting tomorrow.”

Well, I guess I’m learning how to fix a riding lawnmower.

Still might be fun.

Sabby worked with David on cooking today.  He didn’t make dinner, but he did make us a snack.  It was edible.  Not the tastiest thing in the world, but it did the job.  He seems to actually like it!  Maybe it’s because cooking is just applied chemistry?

Speaking of applied chemistry, I love Jack!  Did I mention that?  His job is going well, his driving lessons are going well, he seems to be doing better since his parents started taking more interest.  But I hope to see him soon!!! I miss him!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 15 of 27 in Lily's diary dated 08 - February 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

It was not a good day.

Sabby and Dave got home this morning, and immediately called David and me into the living room.  She sat us down went off.  I wasn’t the object of her wrath, but I was there because I was, well, involved, I suppose.  She told David that while it was good that we sorted it out, that his behavior was absolutely inexcusable, and he was not getting his games or console back for two weeks.  He tried to protest but Sabby wasn’t hearing any of it.  Finally he stomped off to his room and Sabby sighed.  I just sat there.

“Sabby?”

“Yes, Lily?,” she asked, still seeming a bit peeved.

“I don’t think I want to be in charge anymore.”

“Well, you’re the oldest, and that comes with being the oldest.”

“Look, Sabby,” I said, “Maybe I’m the oldest, but I had to call you just to get David to even start to listen to me.  He doesn’t respect me.  We’ve never really gotten along.  I don’t dislike him, he’s my little brother, but all he’s ever done is get in trouble.  I even got angry with him yesterday, and I never get angry!”

Sabby sighed.  “Do you really think that you being put in charge is just for David or Beth?  It’s for you, too.  Having to lead people who don’t want to be led is a life skill, and it’s important to learn.  Just like being led by people you don’t want to lead you is a life skill that David has to learn.   How do you think you could have handled it differently?”

“I don’t know,” I said.  “I really don’t.”

“Well,” she said, “for one thing, you called me.  I’m not saying you were wrong to, but what could you have done so that you didn’t have to call me?”

“I don’t know.”  And I wasn’t lying.  I really didn’t.

“You didn’t feel like you had any authority.  So you didn’t act like you had any authority.  You used my authority.  Again, you weren’t wrong to, but David didn’t respect you because of that.  You’re always trying to get along with people, you aren’t very good at taking charge when you need to.  I had already given you all the authority you needed, and told David that.  You could have exercised it.”

“How?  He told me to pound sand when I told him to study instead of playing games.”

“And you could have told him that if he didn’t start studying like he was supposed to right then that you were going to take all of his games and put them outside with a sign that says ‘free games here’.  You could have just gone to the garage and flipped the breaker to his room.  You could have told him that you weren’t going to order lunch until he did all his studying.  You could have…”

“I get it!”, I said, raising my voice.  “I get it.  I failed.”

“You didn’t fail,” she said softly.  “But you could have handled it differently, too.  Sometimes leading is about making decisions that people don’t like, but know are your responsibility.”

“So what do I do?”

She sighed.  “Do you remember how I dragged Beth over to the homeless shelter?”

“How could I forget?”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to think of something similar to do with David.  You’re right that he’s gotten away with far too much, though he’s grown up some lately.  I’ll think about it.  Oh,” she said, “I almost forgot.”  She rifled around in her purse, and pulled out a couple of bills.  “Here.  That’s for babysitting.”

“I wasn’t -“

“If it weren’t for you I’d have had to hire a babysitter anyway, so I might as well give it to you.  You could use it anyway.  Besides, you earned it.”

“But I failed -“

“Everyone’s fed, still alive, and the house is still standing.  When you’re my age and have kids your age you’ll take that as a win.  Now go study.”

I did.  I still had that presentation on internal combustion engines to finish.  And I wanted to spend a bit of time in the lab too.

I was thinking about what Sabby said all day.  She’s right.  I’m not very good at taking charge.  I just go along with whatever, and that works most of the time, but it didn’t really work yesterday.  Maybe it’s time I be the older sister, and not just Lily.

Now if I can just figure out what that means.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 14 of 27 in Lily's diary dated 08 - February 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I have chocolate for you!  Well, I don’t.  I ate all the chocolate.  But I have a chocolate box for you!  It… smells like chocolate!  It’s something!!!

Hey!  I have a flower for you too!  I’m a Lily!  I’m your flower!  You can put me in a vase and make sure I get sunlight and water!  I’ll be happy!

Or I’m a silly billy.

Maybe I’m a silly billy Lily!  Like I’ve been saying!  SILLY!!!

Okay okay okay.  I’ll give you a chocolate.  Here.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

Today…  was not a good day.

Oh, it started out that way.  This morning Sabby and Dave made sure we had their telephone number and all that, packed up a few things, gave me some instructions and set me up to be able to order food, and then skedaddled.  Beth was nice.  She just went off and studied.  She likes studying so it’s not a huge deal, she can study whether Sabby’s teaching her or not.  Well, David decided that wasn’t gonna fly.  He just went off to play games.

I told him that he had to study.

He said he wanted to play games.

I told him that he was my responsibility and that he was supposed to study.

He told me to pound sand.

I called Sabby.  She told me to take his games.

So I did.

Oh, that did not go over well.  Finally she said to put him on the phone, and I could hear her yelling across the room.  She said that she and Dave didn’t get any time to themselves, that this was Valentine’s day, and if she had to come back home he wasn’t going to see his games or console until summer break.  And she wasn’t kidding, either.  She was cheesed.  And I didn’t blame her.  I was a little upset too.  I was put in charge and the least he could do was let me do what Sabby told me to do.

He was still giving me lip.  Well, you know me, people.  I’m pretty easygoing.  I don’t usually get angry, I just kind of go with the flow, you can count the times I’ve been angry, truly angry, on maybe one or two hands since I started this diary.  I got angry.

I told David that I didn’t know what his problem was, that he had been treating me and his entire family like crap for as long as I could remember, that all he ever seemed to do was get in trouble, and I was tired of it.  Just do what you want, I said, when Sabby comes back I’ll tell her everything he did, good or bad, and then I was done.

I don’t hate the kid, I really don’t, he’s my little brother, but I’m just sick of it.

He looked at me like I’d grown a second head.  All he could say was “You don’t get mad.”

“Not usually,” I said.  “But you’ve managed it.”

“Why are people always mad at me?”, he asked.  There was actually a tear in his eye.  Sigh.

“Because you don’t think about other people!”, I said.  “I know you’re nine and I try to be understanding but… but…   GRRRRR” and I stomped off to my room to study.

Things were quiet until lunchtime.  Beth was studying, I was studying, and I honestly didn’t give a flying fig what David was doing.

Finally around lunch I called everyone down and asked them what they wanted for lunch.  David and Beth wanted hamburgers, and you know what, why not.  So I ordered some food, and while we were waiting for it to arrive, we just kind of sat around the kitchen table.

“Lily?”

“What?” I said.  I was still a little cheesed.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and he gave me a kind of shy side-hug.

“For what?”  I wasn’t letting him off that easy.

“For not letting you be in charge.”

“You know I’m only in charge because Sabby wanted me to be.”

“I know,” he said.  “I just…  I just don’t like it when people tell me what to do.”

“Well, no one does,” I said.  “But sometimes you have to.  Especially when you’re nine.”

“Can I have my games back tonight?”

“No,” I said.  “Your mom wanted me to take them away, and I’m not giving them back until she gets home.  We’re playing board games tonight.  Just the three of us.”

“But =”

I just glared at him.  He shut his mouth.

The food arrived, and he was quiet for the rest of the day.

True to my word, we played games.  We played scrabble, and clue, and a few other games too.  Beth made popcorn, and we ate popcorn and chocolate and I ordered Italian food for dinner.  David calmed down and even seemed to enjoy himself a bit.

I called Sabby and told her how the day went.   She told me I handled it well, and that David needs to grow up a little, and that it was good that the three of us played games.  She kept telling Dave “stop!  I’m on the phone!” while giggling – I wonder what that was about.

I put David to bed an hour ago.  He’s not used to someone other than Sabby tucking him in, but I didn’t mind.  He’s too old for a story, but he was out like a light shortly after I turned his light off.

I chatted with Jack for a bit before writing this.  I told him how much I loved the chocolate.  He said he would have thought there was something wrong with me if I didn’t.  He’d be right.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 13 of 27 in Lily's diary dated 08 - February 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

Well, Sabby did it again.

She and Dave decided they want to have a romantic getaway tomorrow for Valentine’s day.  They haven’t been able to do that for a while because Beth and David were young and they didn’t trust them on their own, even though Beth is probably old enough for that now.  But I’m here now!  So, They’re going to go somewhere tomorrow and come back the next morning.  And I’m in charge!

I’ve been in charge before – remember when we went to Houston?  But not quite like this.  I’ll have to make (well, order) lunch and dinner, and make sure everyone’s doing their schoolwork, and do mine, and take care of anything that comes up.  It won’t be a huge deal unless one of them throws a fit.  I hope that doesn’t happen.  Beth’s gotten a little more mellow since that time we had to go to the homeless shelter.  But David…  he’s still kind of… being David.  Not a bad kid, but…  wants things his way.  And he’s not really too happy about having to listen to me.

So we’ll see how it turns out.  I guess it’ll be okay.  Sabby knows I’m pretty responsible.

We had fun last night playing games!!!  We played twister!  We’d never played twister before!  Beth’s pretty flexible!  So am I!  Liz… isn’t.  She ended up getting a cramp and we all fell all over each other.  It was glorious!  Around 11 or so Sabby told us to cut it out, she’s trying to sleep.  We played a quieter game for an hour then made a girl-pile.  Did I mention I like girl-piles?  Everyone’s so warm and smells like soap!

Whenever I tell Jack about our girl-piles he’s strangely quiet.  Boys…  He’s a nice boy and I love him.. but.. he’s still a boy.  Sabby tells me boys come with… well, boy-ness, and we just have to deal with it and make sure they know what our boundaries are.  Jack’s been really good about that, but you can tell he still, well, thinks boy things sometimes.

Sometimes I’m glad for that.

Today Dave and David plonked themselves in front of the TV and watched the big game!  I don’t see what the big deal is!  Just a bunch of guys smacking into each other and throwing a ball!  But they were really into it!  Yelling and cheering and having a good time.  Their team won!

Anyway, another week starts!  It’s starting to warm up a little and the weather will soon change from cold fronts blowing through every other day, to cold fronts blowing through every other day and making storms!  Storms are fun!  Sometimes!  That hailstorm last year wasn’t fun!

I’m working on doing streaming and YouTube stuff!  I’ve been working on it for a while, but there’s a lot to learn!  I’ll get it soon!!!

Love you all!!!  ❤

This diary entry is part 12 of 27 in Lily's diary dated 08 - February 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

And I’m full of chocolate!!!!

I blame Jack!!!

I ate so much chocolate today!!!

So of course this morning I worked.  I don’t mention much when I work because what am I going to say?  People come in, people pick out horrifically unhealthy food, people line up in front of me so they can worship at the altar of doot dooting, they put gas in their car, and go on their merry way!  Nothing much more than that!!  Sometimes things go a bit wrong, but for the most part, that’s all it is.  And when there’s no one lined up, I go in the back and get more unhealthy food and put it out so the whole thing starts all over again!!!

It’s a simple job, but I know how to do it, and I get along okay.

After I got home, Liz came over, and we all went to the mall!!!  No real reason, we just wanted to get out of the house.  I had a Cinnabon for Allison!!!  We walked around and bought a couple of small things but mostly just chatted.

Oh oh oh Sabby and David made up, sort of.  Sabby’s going to teach David how to cook, but not make us eat it until he gets good at it.  I asked her to teach me too, and she said she would, but David’s the one she needs to teach the lesson to, and I have enough going on anyway.

She’s probably right.

She doesn’t think it was a mistake trying to teach him to cook, but the way she did it was like trying to have him drive a race car when he had never even turned a key!  I told her it was a good thing to teach him to cook, but asked her if was going to teach him girls could do what boys could?

She said, no, but it would teach him that boys could do what girls could, and that’s a start.  She’d think of something else for the other way around.

Of course, that’s assuming he even manages to learn how to make edible food.

After we got back from the mall, we had dinner and after, chatted about girl things, like boys.  Liz has a boy she’s interested in!  But she doesn’t know if he likes her too.  She’s not besotted like I was with Jack, but she wouldn’t turn down a nice kiss.

I hope it works out for her.

What other things do girls chat about?  Well if you don’t know, I won’t tell you!  Girls have to have some secrets, right?

Beth and Liz and I are going to stay up for a bit and play games!  It’ll be fun!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

 

This diary entry is part 11 of 27 in Lily's diary dated 08 - February 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!!!

And if Jack were here, I’d kiss him within an inch of his life!!!!!

He didn’t forget Valentine’s Day!!!!

And when I say he didn’t forget it – he REALLY didn’t forget it.  You know what that silly billy did?  OMG he sent me chocolate!!!  But not just chocolate!!!  Chocolate with cherry!  Chocolate with cream!  Chocolate with rum flavor!  White chocolate!  Pink chocolate!  Chocolate I’d never heard of before!  Sooooo much chocolate!  But he sent flowers with it too!  Lilies!  Lots and lots of lilies!!!

He got my present to him, too.  I didn’t write about it because it would tip him off.   But he has it now so I can tell you.  I know what he’d really like but I can’t give him that until we’re both eighteen, so I wrote him a story.  A very…  nice story.  About all the ways I love him, and all the ways I’d..  show it.

And I also gave him some very expensive cologne.

I think he liked the first gift better.  Boys.  Hahah!!

He got a job now, did I tell you?  It’s nothing special, he’s working after school at a local Krogers – it’s a grocery store up in Ohio, like HEB here.  I guess he’s doing bagging and cart-wrangling. He doesn’t have as many karens.  I wonder why.  Maybe in a grocery store, they go after the people that don’t work there.  Hmm.

I’m soooo glad he sent me something!  He loves me!!!

Anyway, David-cook-gate is still ongoing.   Why do we call everything -gate?  Dave tells me it was some kind of political scandal in the 70s, but I wasn’t even born then, so I guess it’s just a fitting word.  Cookgate?  Davidgate?  Sabbyscrewedthepoochgate?  She did apologize but David is clearly hurt.  I think he feels like Sabby set him up for failure.  And honestly?  She kinda did.

But I’m not talking to her about it.  I think she knows what she did.  There’s no point in rubbing it in.  I wonder how she’s going to make it up to him.

David certainly has a lesson to learn, but…  maybe a different way.

Anyway, tonight, we watched a movie anyway.  David was a bit sullen, but he watched it with us.  Liz came over too.  She asked what was going on, I just said that there was a bit of drama, but Beth and I were fine.  So we’re going to sleep over again!  I do hope this blows over soon.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 10 of 27 in Lily's diary dated 08 - February 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

So I can’t fault Sabby’s intentions, but I think she backfired.

So she wanted David to cook dinner to prove that boys could do things that girls are stereotyped for? Well, it turns out that David can’t cook.  At all.  Not even a little.  He, apparently, has found a way to burn water.  Kid can play computer games and knows a lot about computers and tech stuff, but put him in front of a stove and, well, it was an unmitigated disaster.

The food served was pretty much inedible.  He tried to make macaroni and cheese.  He ended up with pasta and cheese soup, and the cheese made little balls that were crispy on the outside.  Ewww!

And Sabby was coaching him, too!

Dave took one bite, and said “Sabby, I know what you were trying to do, and David, I know you did your best, but this isn’t edible.  I’m ordering pizza.”  And he did.  The pizza arrived half an hour later and we ate in silence.  David looked mortified, Sabby looked upset, but at herself more than at David, Dave just looked a bit put out, and Beth seemed a bit gleeful that her little brother finally got a bit of comeuppance.  I…  just felt bad for everyone.

Though I do love pizza.

After, Dave and Sabby went up to there room, and there was muffled yelling, with Sabby doing most of it.  David just sat on the couch looking miserable.  I sat down next to him.

“Ok there kiddo?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.”

I frowned.  “Your mom embarrassed you, didn’t she?”

he nodded.

 “I don’t think she meant to.”

He just got up and went upstairs.  He’s nine.  He’s not very good at talking about his feelings.  It’s not that he dislikes me, he just… he’s David.

Boy, when Sabby messes up, she really messes up.

And I can’t really fault what she was trying to accomplish.  I know David’s nine, but he really does have some rough edges.  And apparently he thinks girls can’t do some things that boys can.  But if Sabby was trying to kill that idea, well, I don’t think she managed it.

Poor Sabby.

Poor David.

I hate family drama.

But on the bright side, at least I got some pizza out of the deal.  Is that a fair trade for being told I can’t do something because I’m a girl?

Nah.  But it’s a nice down payment.  I do love pizza.

Sabby’s in David’s room talking to him now.  And as much as he needs to be taught a lesson, well, she owes him an apology.  I hope she gives him one.

Tomorrow’s Friday!  YAY!!!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 9 of 27 in Lily's diary dated 08 - February 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

Lily lily la-lilly!!!

Banana nana fofana!!!

I’m dancing in my chair!!!  It’s squeaking!  Beth just came by looking at me funny!!!

Today was..  A wednesday.  Dave was off on a job site, but left some homework for us with Sabby.  I had my project to do with learning how a car engine worked, but we also all filed into the lab and had to build a simple circuit.  But the catch was, David had to keep his hands off and just tell us what we needed to do.

So…  that didn’t end well.  What was supposed to happen was, Beth and I were supposed to plug bits and pieces into the little holey thing as David told us, connect up a battery, and it was supposed to do stuff.  What actually happened was David told us to do something, and both of us refused to do it until he told us what the bit we were plugging in was, what it did, and why it needed to be where it was.  David lost his patience very quickly and stomped off.  Sabby came back, dragging David along a few minutes later, and said “I’m going to watch.  Do what you were doing.”

So we did.

After about a minute, Sabby stopped us.

“I’ve seen enough,” she said.  “David, Beth and Lily have every right to ask you questions and to understand what they’re doing.  Maybe you don’t have the answers but you’re being impatient.  We’re not just teaching you how to do electronics, we’re also trying to teach you how to work together, and David, you’re failing.”

“But they’re so sloooooow!”, he whined.  “And they’re girls!”

Sabby’s face turned thunderous.  “What. Does. That. Have. To. Do. With. Anything”, she asked, punctuating each word.

David had the sense to stay quiet.

“Do you think that girls aren’t as good at this as boys are?”

David turned red, but I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or embarrassment.

“I see,” she said.  “Come with me.  Lily, Beth, you can keep working on this if you want.”

We did.  Both of us knew better than to get in Sabby’s way when she was working up a good rant.  It took us a bit longer, but Beth and I figured it out finally.

We could hear Sabby yelling through the door.

When we had dinner, Sabby told us that since David thought boys were better at some things than girls, it stood to reason that girls were better at some things than boys too, so David was going to be cooking dinner for the next week.  I wasn’t too happy at that announcement.  Why punish us with bad food?  But I kept quiet.

As I said, you don’t want to get in Sabby’s way when she was working up a good rant.

Truthfully, I wouldn’t mind learning to cook too, but let’s let David get through this first.  This oughta be a fiasco almost as bad as Cookie-palooza.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 8 of 27 in Lily's diary dated 08 - February 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

Genuine Lily Parts!  Oh, ummm…  should probably leave that one, huh?

It’s been quiet.  Too quiet.

Last year, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it just seemed to be one thing hitting after another.  I went to Disney world with Liz and her family, met Jack, fell in love (against my better judgement), said “oh no” a lot, discovered who my birth mother was, met her, had Christmas, Jack came back for Christmas, had a date…  all that stuff happened.  And since the new year I… well, took driving lessons and had my floppy bits honked.

I like the quiet, but it worries me.  What else is life going to throw at me?  There are still a few unresolved plot points.  I mean, my life is a bit like a story, right?  The plot points can’t stay unresolved, can they?  Who adopted me before Dave and Sabby did?  What happened to them?  Why do I have a few hundred thousand dollars?  Why did I lose my memory?  Why was I found where I was?  I’ve found the answers to a few questions, but not really the big ones.  Why can I play piano and knock fully grown men onto the ground?  What other skills do I have that I don’t know about?

But the question of who I was before I was found isn’t as important to me anymore.  I have my family now.  I have Jack.  I know my given name and birthday.  Do I really need to know?  I mean, really truly?

It’d be nice if I did, but I guess it’s not really all that important anymore.

And my life isn’t perfect, either.  I love my family, but they are flawed.  Sometimes Sabby or Beth go off for no reason, or David gets in trouble, or Dave withdraws into himself and gets a little surly.  Heck, sometimes I get in a stinker of a mood.  Life isn’t perfect.  But people who love you make it better.  Don’t you think?

Love you all!!! ❤