School Starts, Water Lantern Festival

As soon as Josie and I entered Reagan Elementary Monday morning I felt like the summer evaporated, like it never happened. Vamoose. Poof. Gonzo. It was a literal time warp with a twist. The twist was having students mixed up into different times of the day. Phillip, Everett, and Evelyn were up at dawn ready to start 10th, 9th, and 6th grades. Evelyn had her outfit all picked out a couple of days before. Love that. Sara is driving the kids because apparently we live close enough for Evelyn to walk and don’t qualify for the bus. We might be 1/2 mile from EVMS as the crow flies but not as a student walks. She might have to use the bus home once in a while, hopefully they won’t deny her entrance without the magical RFID bus cards. Phillip was his usual goofy self with the paper grade signs. He is either in the 10th grade grade OR the 10th4th grade. Josie and I enjoyed a rather quiet morning without Evelyn complaining about packing her lunch, eating breakfast, or taking her medicine. Strange. 

I basically have the same schedule except they cut out 15 minutes from the only prep I have in the afternoon. Dang it. I get the 15 minutes AFTER school is out, at least I have enough time to use the bathroom and make copies if needed. Seems like everyone enjoyed their classes and teachers. Phillip’s schedule changed because they forgot to put him in band (sort of important). Everett switched his leadership class for guitar. Evelyn said she has some of her besties throughout the day in various classes. 

I tried to punk Amelia at Del Taco while she was working drive thru. The girls had strings lessons and we left 15 minutes early. I was annoying as possible…Amelia ruined it by telling me she could see the van and me making a fool of myself. She should’ve let me live my dream. The $5 orange shake tasted like DUST, dust I tell you. The drive thru lady was really cute and bubbly, good thing she belongs to us. Evelyn started guitar! She learned how to properly hold a pick and got lots of tasks to work through like power chords and strumming. Josie was thrilled to pick out 5 Christmas songs! Yay. 

Our youth had two paid service projects this summer to pay for their youth camps. Saturday we headed to the Water Lantern Festival at Julia Davis Park to help run the event. Amelia and Jocelyn ran the merchandise tent like pros, the owner gushed over their amazing job. The rest of us were stationed at the entrance scanning tickets and handing out water lantern kits. Phillip kept visiting my booth, he loves me. The vibe was on the hippie side with mandala blankets, flower crowns, smooth music, and letting your feelings out by drawing and then letting your fears, wishes, etc float away. Before the lantern float visitors went through a guided meditation. Groovy. Our group had a really fun time meeting a multitude of folks. Sister Sparks and I ran the VIP check-in, VIP ticket holders got a fancy bag, t-shirt, cool bracelet, and unlimited drinks and snacks. We had to shoo away several revelers away from the “free snacks.” I bought Justin, Evelyn, and Josie tickets to attend the event so we could all participate. Justin sent me a location pin so I could find them in the crush of humanity before they launched their lanterns. Josie wrote “My dad is a baldy” on her lantern! I loved the chance to admire their lanterns. The effect was rather magical with golden lanterns floating on the water. Right after we had most of the booths broken down it rained. That was magical too. The most challenging part of the evening was gathering up all the lanterns and breaking them down. That was a sopping wet mess, I’m sure a flock of ducks will die after eating shiny batteries we missed as this was all done in the dark at 11:30 pm. Everett came home with lumpy shorts…he stuffed over 50 tea lights into his pockets. I like fundraisers like helping at events…selling cookie dough gets old.