Series: 10 - April 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

All the girls came over tonight and it’s DOGGIE HEAVEN!!!

Crystal and Diana met her for the first time and think she’s just the cutest thing in the world!  And maybe she is!!!  I’m not even sure we’re going to play games!!  We’re just going to watch a movie and play with the dog!!!

Hopefully the four of us can wear her out enough she’ll sleep all night.

Crystal wants a dog now!

Oh, did I tell you?  I didn’t tell you!  Crystal’s dad is doing a really good job!  He was able to buy a car!!!  So now they have a house and a car, and maybe they can get a dog soon!  But her father says not now, he wants to make sure they’re a little better established first.  Crystal’s sad but understands.  She can come over and play with Marie!!!

It’s not a new car, but who needs a new car, anyway?

Crystal’s mother is going to go back to work too, soon.  But first they have to make sure Crystal is ready to return to school.  They’re talking about having her come over and school with us, but…  nothing’s solid yet.

Oh oh oh.  Remember how we talked a while ago about how Sabby should open a cookie place?  She’s starting to kind of take that idea seriously!  We’re not sure where that’s going to go, but she’s been working on cookie recipes!  Thankfully just a few small batches.  We told her that we’re happy to taste test, but only a few at a time.

I think my favorite is the chocolate chocolate chunk with chocolate icing and chocolate sprinkles, with a bit of whipped cream.  I wonder why.

Oh well, we’re going to brush each others’ hair and tell stories, and then make a girl pile!!!  I love girl piles!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

After work we took Marie to the dog park to meet all the other dogs.  She had a blast!  Some dogs weren’t the nicest, but most just wanted to play, and Marie’s all about the playing!

I.. I wonder how Marie (the dog in my dream) got her name…

Anyway, she ran herself silly.  By the time she got home she was conked out.  Went right for my bed.  Sigh.

This morning I told Sabby that I needed to go to work and someone else could take her for a walk.  David drew the short end of that straw.  But that’s okay.  He needs to learn some responsibility.  I hear he was complaining, but did it anyway.  The girls (except for Liz) stayed over to spend time with Beth.  That’s okay, they’re primarily her friends anyway, right?  I mean, I love Beth and Crystal and Diana, but Beth’s the one who really needs friends, so…

I get to be the big sister.

I’m fine with that.

Oh oh oh did I tell you? Liz has a date tonight!  With that boy she likes!  I told her to tell me all about it when she gets home!  And to BE CAREFUL!!!

Off to do hair brushing!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me!  LIly!

Liz’s date went GREAT!  She didn’t tell me exactly what he did, but it was the Liz equivalent of the chocolatier tour that Jack took me on!  She was absolutely bubbling when she got home!!!

We girls don’t ask for much.  Just for a boy to figure out what we like and to take a shot at giving it to us sometimes.

It’s obviously too soon to tell if he’s “the one” for Liz, but I guess he really made a good impression.  She came over this afternoon and was actually really distracted, much more distracted than she usually is.  Poor girl is absolutely besotted.

I told her I was happy for her, but it was only one date, and to calm down already!

She said “You don’t understand!  He’s perfect!!!”

I just looked at her with one eyebrow cocked.

“ok ok ok I guess you do understand but still!!!”

I asked if she got a kiss.  She wouldn’t tell.  But the way her face turned bright red and she wouldn’t look me in the eye gave her away.  Awwww.  I asked her if he was a good kisser, and the faraway look she gave me while she unconsciously licked her lips gave her away on that too.  Poor girl can’t keep a secret!! Hahaha!!

I told her I want to meet this boy of hers.  She seemed a little hesitant, but I said I’d go easy on him, I just wanted to give him the best friend stamp of approval.  I’d do the same for her if Jack wasn’t her cousin!

I love Liz.  I mean I really do.  She’s my best friend, and a good girl, and I only want the best for her.  And any boy who treats her well is okay in my book. Any boy that doesn’t, well…  I’ve wondered how good I am at martial arts.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Beth is a little jealous, she gets that way sometimes.  I think she wants a boy.  Sabby told her she’s too young and can date when she’s sixteen.  She threw a bit of a hissy fit, but I reminded her that’s less than a year away, and she doesn’t know any boys she wants to date anyway.  She quieted down but still didn’t seem happy.

Her face is starting to lose her baby fat, and she’s really becoming quite a beautiful young woman.  She’s got this light chocolate skin I can only dream of.  Mine is more… Japanese colored, I guess.  I bet boys will jump to date her – if she can manage to not get jealous and go off on them.  Maybe I should have a talk with her before her next birthday.  Boys don’t take well to jealous girls.

But Sabby’s right.  She’s a bit too young.

Liz seems sooo happy!  She can’t wait to see her boy again!  I told her to calm down a bit, she still has lots of stuff to do that doesn’t involve her boy.  She sighed and whined that I just had to remind her to practice violin.

I hope he can play an instrument or something.  She really is a classy girl.

Oh, Sabby was right. Cat and Marie are getting along better now.  Cat still bops Marie across the nose, but I caught them cuddled up last night.  I guess a warm fluffball is irresistible to more than just humans.

Marie looked kind of victorious, and Cat looked a bit embarrassed.

Animals are smarter than we think.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me! Lily!

You know, I’ve never actually experienced real school.

I mean, I did zoom classes, but I never actually set foot in a building.  When school was about to go back to in person, Sabby took us out.  I don’t know if I miss it.  Lessons are okay, I mean.  Sabby’s an okay teacher, and we’re learning a lot of useful stuff.  Like electronics, and mechanics, and math and science, and the lessons are always topical.  Plus I get to learn Japanese and take piano lessons, and maybe I wouldn’t be able to do that in “real” school.  So that’s nice.  I don’t feel like I’m missing anything there.

In fact, given some stuff I’ve heard about, I’m kinda glad I don’t.  How challenging would it be, being half-Japanese, and living in a mixed family?  I mean, I don’t mind at all!!! But there would be, well, expectations, you know?

But I think I do miss sports.  I like to run, and I think I’d like to play sports, but I don’t have the chance now!  I just run every morning and that’s it.  Would be nice to play volleyball, or maybe even cheerlead…  I bet Jack would love me in the uniform!  But maybe… that just won’t happen now.

I gain some things, and lose some things.  Is what I gain worth what I’m losing?

I don’t know.  I really don’t.

Speaking of piano lessons, my recital’s coming up.  I’m playing alright, but my teacher is teaching me how to be an actual performer.  You know, bowing, being demure, that kind of thing.  I’m not a demure girl!  I’m going to model my nice black dress for my teacher, maybe it’s good enough, but I might need a formal gown.

I bet I’d look so good in a formal gown!!!

And you know?  I don’t really know how to walk in high heels.  Mid heels, okay, but not high heels.  I need to learn.  Oh Saaabbbbyyyyyy!!!! hahaha!!!  I don’t think they’d be comfortable most of the time, but for special occasions… would be good to know.

Or maybe I already do.  Don’t know until I try.

My teacher tells me that being a performer is as much about being what people expect of me as being who I am.  I don’t think I like that.  But I guess it’s like the YouTubes I make sometimes.  That’s me, but it’s not!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

Sabby struck gold!!!

I don’t know what she did.  She won’t tell me.  But she made a cookie that is the best cookie I’ve ever tasted!  It’s chocolate, but it’s got a kind of tang to it that I can’t quite place, but it’s really really good!  She calls it Sabby’s Spectacularly Scrumptious Scookie!

… she might have to work on the name.

But I think she’s going to start her pastry business!!!

And she wants us to help!!!

But I’m not sure what our jobs will be yet.  We can’t work full time obviously, but I’m sure she’ll find something for us to do, and it’ll be part of our schooling too!  It might be fun!

We’ll see.  I’m sure she’ll be a good boss, and maybe it will help David learn some responsibility, too.

Speaking of responsibility, he got in trouble.  He let Marie out and forgot about her.  We caught her halfway through digging under the fence.  David got yelled at pretty badly for that one.  He said “But it’s Lily’s dog, why should I have to take care of her?”  Sabby just said “I got her for Lily, but she’s a family dog.  We all take care of her.  And if you ever do that again I might just leave you out for a while.”

He got the message.  I think.

Kid’s really got to learn some responsibility.

And Dave’s out putting some mesh under the fence so she can’t get through.

Sigh.

Love you all!!! ❤❤

(you get an extra heart today because I feel like it!)

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!!!

Today was a pretty boring day.  I ran, did schoolwork, did more schoolwork, played with Marie, ate dinner…  Sabby made lasagna tonight!!!  OMG is it good!!!

After dinner Sabby sat us down and started learning about business.  Notice I didn’t say teaching.. this time she was the student along with us.  We learned about a basic business plan, accounting, that kind of thing.  She’s getting kinda serious about her cookie business, I guess she thinks she has a winner.

Y’know, I kind of agree, I think she does.

I guess it’ll be a long road.  All she’s got is the product, and she still has a few more products to come up with.

David was whining that it was boring, but she said he needed to learn it anyway, and if he still thought it was boring, she’d put him to work in the kitchen.  Given the mac and cheese fiasco, I’m not sure that’s the greatest idea, but I guess anyone can learn.  He has learned to make a passable mac and cheese, at least.

That reminds me, Sabby said she’d teach me to cook too, and she hasn’t.  Oh SAAAABBBBYYYY!!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me!  Lily!

It was really short notice, but Sabby told us to get dressed this morning, we were going to take a “field trip”.  So we did, and we piled in and went to the courthouse.

Crystal’s attacker got a trial today!!!

Quite honestly, it was a bit anticlimactic.  We sat in the seats, the jury came out, they laid out their case against him.  Thankfully Crystal didn’t have to testify, they already had her deposition, and since she’s a minor, it was deemed unnecessary.  There were some witnesses, and they described what they saw… it was disturbing.  Poor Crystal.

After the prosecutor rested his case, and the defense put theirs forth (all they had was “the evidence is circumstantial”) the jury deliberated for about an hour, and came back…. GUILTY!!!

He gets sentenced later, but for that charge?  Dave says it’s 20 years, probably.

Crystal came over tonight, and everyone told her the news.  OMG she just started bawling!!! Poor girl!!!  We all gave her a big hug and told her he’d never bother her again.

And we got pizza and ice cream, and Diana, Liz, and Allison came over, and we had a HUGE party!!!  We didn’t tell Allison what it was for exactly, but we said someone hurt Crystal and he’s going to jail for a long time.  Allison seemed very happy.  And she should be!!!

I guess there is some justice in the world.  Though these days you’d barely know it, would you?  I don’t keep up with the news too much but there’s this war going on, and I don’t get it.  People just… kill each other?  Why?

Anyway, happy thoughts.  Crystal gets justice and the pizza was delicious.  We’re going to watch a movie now.  Crystal gets to pick.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

So after the movie we all went up to play games and get ready for bed, but I noticed Crystal wasn’t there.  So I went downstairs and she was huddled on the couch.  I sat down next to her and asked her what was wrong.

Poor girl just threw herself at me and started crying.

After she had cried herself out, she sniffled and wiped her eyes, and said “I… I just thought I’d be happy.  Now that he’s going to jail.  Now that he can’t hurt anyone else.  But…  but I’m not happy.  It doesn’t fix anything.”

I stroked her hair. “It doesn’t fix anything,” I said after a moment.  “I mean, you can never really fix anything, right?  But…  but we’re all here now.  That’s… that’s all we can do, I guess.”

“Will… will any boy ever want me?”, she asked.

I sighed.  “Of course they will.  You’re breathing right?”

She sniffed, but a giggle escaped.

“The right boy won’t care,” I said.  “It’s not like you chose to anyway.  You’re a pretty girl.  Someday you’ll find the right boy and he won’t care at all.  He’ll love you for everything you are.  Even the bad things.”

She sighed.  “I hope so.”

“I know so,” I said.  “Maybe it won’t ever completely go away, but it’ll get better if you let people love you.  Do you want to come up and get your hair brushed?”

She wiped her eyes and trudged up the stairs with me.  We went into Beth’s room, and everyone was sitting talking quietly.  I told Crystal to sit on the bed, and made an announcement.

“Girls, this is Crystal’s night.  Let’s brush her hair and give her hugs and…  and show her that we all love her.  She needs that tonight.”

Crystal started to tear up, but the other girls took it to heart.  Allison crawled into her lap like a kitten and let Crystal cuddle with her, while Beth brushed her hair and the rest of us just talked to her and told her we love her.  Even Marie got in on the action and sprawled all over the two of them.

I… I guess it helped, because soon her eyes were drooping and she had the biggest, most happy smile on her face.

Otherwise it was a quiet day.  I worked, came home, played with Marie, and here I am.

Life is about people who love you.

And speaking of which,

Love you all!!! ❤