So McKenze just walked around my laptop, sort of inspector-like, and asked if it really had my name encrusted in diamonds. She was completely serious, I'm like "Kenze who the heck told you that?" She couldn't remember, I'm thinking it might have been a Papa joke. Oh Dad, do those ever get old?
I mowed for the first time ever on friday. Yes, it was a rider, but still! You should see the size of this yard, it takes four hours!! It was a Papa-Brandy bonding experience. First he taught me how to drive it, then he walked me around the entire yard pointing out all of the dangerous wires. Basically if you hit a "dangerous wire" the whole farm could explode, but everything else is fair game. I finished the four hour yard in about two, and I would say it looked 10x better than Ethan's last haircut. I had just parked by the garage and dusted myself off, a job well done. When here comes Papa "You mind if I jump on there and get the places you missed in the very far corners that no one can see even if they drive all the way to the machine shed?" Seriously? Ok maybe he didn't actually say that last part, but that is definitely what he meant. Some things will never change.
As some of you know, I have about 9 cousins under the age of 12. They recently discovered the joys of talking to Ethan on the phone. At first it was cute. They love him, talk about how awesome and funny he is. Great, he's fitting in already. But now it's like, I'll sneak off to talk on the phone with him, and one of them will find me, announce to the others, and then there will be a line of bug-eyed kids waiting to talk to him. Then by the time the phone gets back to me, he'll have to go.
They all have this running fantasy too. They see me run by their house every morning. Well one morning they decided to meet me at the end of the lane and run back to Grandmas with me. It's about a mile. So they take off like wild Indians yelling back "Why are you so slow?!" But by the time we get to the cemetery they are huffing and puffing. And I blaze past them screaming "Suckers!" Ha, not really, but I wanted to. So we walked the rest of the way. But not too bad for a 7, 9, and 10 year old.
One thing I've noticed since I've been here is how much my Grandparents are still in love with each other, even after 45+ and 55+ years together. It's amazing, sincerely amazing. Even though Grandma gets her feathers ruffled when Grandpa takes 17 detours on the way home from a restaurant to tell 20 different stories with each land mark. Even though Grandma is silently saddened by all of the hours my Papa spends working on the farm. They still send each other sweet looks. Kind of like "We've been through a lot of crap, but I love you more today than I did the day I married you." They take care of each other. I would say between them and my parents I have perfect role models.
