(Continued from yesterday)
Okay, I believe I left off somewhere around giving everyone hugs, so I'll just continue from there.
Matt was pretty much how I immagined. You know, tall, brown hair, nice, funny. Good stuff. And Anday looked way different! Long hair! But I got used to it really quick, so that's a good thing. We hung out in the livingroom talking for a little while until I pulled out an old letter Dalena and I had written about two years ago for Matt and we retreated into the spare room so the boys could read it. They found it quite humourous, especially Anday who laughed for several miutes straight at one point. He was overtired from jet lag, plus had been awake alot since arriving at Dalena's the evening vofore. He started laughing really hard so I went to get him a glass of water and when I got back he was laughing so hard he had tears streaming down his face. That's about the point that we decided we needed to go to bed.
Sunday morning we woke up fairly early and I drug the others to mass at St. James. Getting ready was a little crazy. There wasn't time for all of us to shower in the morning so I offered to shower at night. (Anday's a fast showerer while Matt takes a long time.) We were a little late, but oh well. As Anday says, it was almost like the start of a bad joke, the four of us. "A Catholic, a Jew, a Mormon, and an Agnostic go to mass together..." Right... The boys seemed to find Catholic mass quite interesting while Dalena was fairly used to it by now, having gone with me several times. She's even getting the songs down!
After church we headed to Portland to meet up with some of Dalena's family. Her half brother and half sister had never met, so while Jennifer (her half sister) was in town from Reno where she lives we figured that it was about time. Benjamen (Dalena's half brother) lives in the Portland area. We met at Starbucks (Yum!) and we all met and talked for awhile. Ben and Jen seemed to really connect. It was great. Jennifer also brought her husband along, Tony, who's really nice. And she gave us a bit of big news... she's four months pregnant. She wants to name the baby Jade, boy or girl.
Once the uniting was all over, the four of us were let loose to go shopping. Matt needed a gothic makeover (supposedly) and we had directions to a store from Ben that we were to go to. Well, he pointed us in the wrong direction... We ended up wandering around Portland in the rain for like two hours before we finally found it. By this time we were completely soked, and sure that we would all be sick in the morning. The store turned out to be REALLY expensive and all we got was a shirt for Matt and Anday to share. We hit up some other shops on the way home and the boys found a few more items, plus some make-up from Target. We were so frozen when we got home! I decided that it was time for my hot shower, but Dalena was possibly even more freezing, having worn a skirt. So we comprimised and both put on our swimming suits and took a shower together. Heck, we've been doing that since we were born, so why not? Sleeping arrangements were made (Uncle Dan and Aunt Vickie in their room, Dalena and I in hers, Jen and Tony in the spare room, Matt, Anday, and Ben on the livingroom floor) and we all passed out.
Dalena and I got up the next morning to see what everyone was doing (we were the last up) and Tony announced to us that we had snow. I can remember thinking "What? Snow? Huh?" We rushed over to the window and he was right! There was snow outside, though it was starting to melt. Apparently Aunt Vickie had nearly passed out when she noticed it earlier that morning. So we rushed into Dalena's room and through on warm clothes and headed outside (the boys didn't come with us because they were too busy watching Queen music videos. Silly boys.) We made a snow heart and wrote Anday and Matt in the snow and threw snowballs. We had planned to have anime day that day, but it was a little too noisy in the house so we had 3rd Street Day instead (3rd Street is the main street in McMinnville). We shopped and had fun and it was wonderful. Ben left while we were gone but Jen and Tony stayed one more night. We gave Matt his gothic makeover and joined him in looking scary, and then we called Brittney and nearly went bowling with her but the bowling alley closes at 10 so we went to the pool hall instead. Then we stood on the gothic street corner, but no one was there.
The next day we had our real anime day and watched Spirit Away, Shamanic Princess, and Sailor Moon. The boys hated that last one! Brittney came over for awhile. Jennifer and Tony left, and we went bowling that night. Dalena and the boys put their goth clothes back on, but I didn't feel well so I decided to dress warm instead... a fuzzy light blue shirt and a pink jacket. Of all of us I got the most funny looks. I could tell people wondered why I was hanging out with them, especially when I'd put my head on Anday's shoulder. I won the first game and Anday won the second.
New Years Eve was a lot of fun too. I think we stayed home that day, although I'm not really sure because all the days are beginning to run together into just one really great time. No, I lied. We went over to Karrie's house so Matt could play the piano and the boys could sing Bohimian Rhapsody some more (they'd been doing it all week long). Karrie went with us to see Love Actually, which was pretty good. Then it was back to her house for some more piano. We got back to Dalena's at about 11:00, hade candlelit pizza and sparkling apple cider. We watched the ball drop together. I felt a little alone at this point. Anday had Lizzy (on the phone, yes, but he still had her) and Dalena had Matt and Aunt Vickie had Uncle Dan and then there was me. But the feeling only lasted for a moment. I took a cat-nap while they watched Princess Mononoke but woke up for Now and Then. Uncle Dan got back from work at 4:30ish and we made him take us out to Sharis for dessert.
We attempted to watch the sunrise that morning, only it was too cloudy. Then we helped the boys pack and took them to the airport. It was a very sad day for all of us. I cried several times before we even got there. All I could think was that I didn't know when I'd be allowed to see Anday again because our moms don't get along too well. Dalena was devistated to let Matt go as well. We hugged eachother about five million times in the airport before Aunt Vickie decided it was time to go. But I will see the boys again! Really! I don't know when, but I will. I love you both Matt and Anday! Never think otherwise.
I stayed one last night at Dalena's house. Sorry, babe, that I didn't help you clean your room up a little more. We went to Great Uncle George's funeral and then I returned home.
Matt was pretty much how I immagined. You know, tall, brown hair, nice, funny. Good stuff. And Anday looked way different! Long hair! But I got used to it really quick, so that's a good thing. We hung out in the livingroom talking for a little while until I pulled out an old letter Dalena and I had written about two years ago for Matt and we retreated into the spare room so the boys could read it. They found it quite humourous, especially Anday who laughed for several miutes straight at one point. He was overtired from jet lag, plus had been awake alot since arriving at Dalena's the evening vofore. He started laughing really hard so I went to get him a glass of water and when I got back he was laughing so hard he had tears streaming down his face. That's about the point that we decided we needed to go to bed.
Sunday morning we woke up fairly early and I drug the others to mass at St. James. Getting ready was a little crazy. There wasn't time for all of us to shower in the morning so I offered to shower at night. (Anday's a fast showerer while Matt takes a long time.) We were a little late, but oh well. As Anday says, it was almost like the start of a bad joke, the four of us. "A Catholic, a Jew, a Mormon, and an Agnostic go to mass together..." Right... The boys seemed to find Catholic mass quite interesting while Dalena was fairly used to it by now, having gone with me several times. She's even getting the songs down!
After church we headed to Portland to meet up with some of Dalena's family. Her half brother and half sister had never met, so while Jennifer (her half sister) was in town from Reno where she lives we figured that it was about time. Benjamen (Dalena's half brother) lives in the Portland area. We met at Starbucks (Yum!) and we all met and talked for awhile. Ben and Jen seemed to really connect. It was great. Jennifer also brought her husband along, Tony, who's really nice. And she gave us a bit of big news... she's four months pregnant. She wants to name the baby Jade, boy or girl.
Once the uniting was all over, the four of us were let loose to go shopping. Matt needed a gothic makeover (supposedly) and we had directions to a store from Ben that we were to go to. Well, he pointed us in the wrong direction... We ended up wandering around Portland in the rain for like two hours before we finally found it. By this time we were completely soked, and sure that we would all be sick in the morning. The store turned out to be REALLY expensive and all we got was a shirt for Matt and Anday to share. We hit up some other shops on the way home and the boys found a few more items, plus some make-up from Target. We were so frozen when we got home! I decided that it was time for my hot shower, but Dalena was possibly even more freezing, having worn a skirt. So we comprimised and both put on our swimming suits and took a shower together. Heck, we've been doing that since we were born, so why not? Sleeping arrangements were made (Uncle Dan and Aunt Vickie in their room, Dalena and I in hers, Jen and Tony in the spare room, Matt, Anday, and Ben on the livingroom floor) and we all passed out.
Dalena and I got up the next morning to see what everyone was doing (we were the last up) and Tony announced to us that we had snow. I can remember thinking "What? Snow? Huh?" We rushed over to the window and he was right! There was snow outside, though it was starting to melt. Apparently Aunt Vickie had nearly passed out when she noticed it earlier that morning. So we rushed into Dalena's room and through on warm clothes and headed outside (the boys didn't come with us because they were too busy watching Queen music videos. Silly boys.) We made a snow heart and wrote Anday and Matt in the snow and threw snowballs. We had planned to have anime day that day, but it was a little too noisy in the house so we had 3rd Street Day instead (3rd Street is the main street in McMinnville). We shopped and had fun and it was wonderful. Ben left while we were gone but Jen and Tony stayed one more night. We gave Matt his gothic makeover and joined him in looking scary, and then we called Brittney and nearly went bowling with her but the bowling alley closes at 10 so we went to the pool hall instead. Then we stood on the gothic street corner, but no one was there.
The next day we had our real anime day and watched Spirit Away, Shamanic Princess, and Sailor Moon. The boys hated that last one! Brittney came over for awhile. Jennifer and Tony left, and we went bowling that night. Dalena and the boys put their goth clothes back on, but I didn't feel well so I decided to dress warm instead... a fuzzy light blue shirt and a pink jacket. Of all of us I got the most funny looks. I could tell people wondered why I was hanging out with them, especially when I'd put my head on Anday's shoulder. I won the first game and Anday won the second.
New Years Eve was a lot of fun too. I think we stayed home that day, although I'm not really sure because all the days are beginning to run together into just one really great time. No, I lied. We went over to Karrie's house so Matt could play the piano and the boys could sing Bohimian Rhapsody some more (they'd been doing it all week long). Karrie went with us to see Love Actually, which was pretty good. Then it was back to her house for some more piano. We got back to Dalena's at about 11:00, hade candlelit pizza and sparkling apple cider. We watched the ball drop together. I felt a little alone at this point. Anday had Lizzy (on the phone, yes, but he still had her) and Dalena had Matt and Aunt Vickie had Uncle Dan and then there was me. But the feeling only lasted for a moment. I took a cat-nap while they watched Princess Mononoke but woke up for Now and Then. Uncle Dan got back from work at 4:30ish and we made him take us out to Sharis for dessert.
We attempted to watch the sunrise that morning, only it was too cloudy. Then we helped the boys pack and took them to the airport. It was a very sad day for all of us. I cried several times before we even got there. All I could think was that I didn't know when I'd be allowed to see Anday again because our moms don't get along too well. Dalena was devistated to let Matt go as well. We hugged eachother about five million times in the airport before Aunt Vickie decided it was time to go. But I will see the boys again! Really! I don't know when, but I will. I love you both Matt and Anday! Never think otherwise.
I stayed one last night at Dalena's house. Sorry, babe, that I didn't help you clean your room up a little more. We went to Great Uncle George's funeral and then I returned home.