The weekend was good. I was glad to be around my sister again. She is so happy and so in love with her husband. It made me a little sick, but in a good way. She liked my highlights that I was unsure of. My mom must have said something to them about Stone because my sister and my two aunts began to grill me about him. I told them that it had only been one date and I really couldn’t say what would happen. My aunt reminded me that I was the last one to get married in the family and that meant that I could have whatever I wanted. I told her that I wanted a pair of elephants and that I wanted to ride in on one so I could look really skinny. They thought that was pretty funny.

My sister’s reception was really good in spite of and perhaps because of the problems that arose. My mother had worked very hard on this three layered oval cake that was made without any eggs or animal products. After the vegan approved cake layers (*there was a little bit of whey protein from the cake mix—but that’s a secret between my mom, me and all of you—shhhhh*) were baked, they were sent to our favorite cake lady to assemble and decorate. The completed cake came back to us in a box for transport to the park. My cousin Becky hauled the cake up to the park where some of us were setting things up and waiting for guests. On the way from the house to the park, the bottom layer collapsed. My cousin was mortified, but I told her the cake was to blame and that leaving the egg out had caused it to be structurally unsound. We managed to take the top two layers off before my mom arrived. She was upset, but there really wasn’t anything to do at that point and so she shrugged it off while the rest of us snuck over to the box with the crumbled bottom layer and snuck pieces of its moist, sweet goodness. Then, the rain came. It dissolved to the top layers of our paper on plastic tablecloths and the winds knocked over the perfectly placed pots of miniature roses. The kids ran in and out getting wet and muddy on the mucky playground. We all squeezed into the dry half of the pavilion where the rain couldn’t quite reach us on the back of the wind. It was a good time. Afterwards, my sister, brother-in-law and I sat and drank some wine.

Some new worries came up over the weekend. My stepdad got a call from his doctor’s office about some chest x-rays that were done as part of a smokers’ study that he is participating in. There were some shadowy specters. I’m afraid for him, but I guess somewhere in the back of my mind, I feel we are dealing with borrowed time. It’s not that I think he deserves what he gets, but when you smoke for more than forty years and don’t quit even after barely managing to survive an aortal aneurysm, you should expect some consequences. I guess my grandpa is also suffering some new incontinence problems, but I figure you’re pretty lucky to make it to 90 without springing a leak.

I talked to Stone again last night. He’s a really sweet guy. He sent me an email card today. I’m not really sure what to make of this. He’s definitely easy to talk to and fun to hang out with, but I’m not really sure beyond that.

So, I also talked to Julio last night and he told me that I come across as too perfect and too innocent in this diary. He told me that I should publish some of my past sins, air my dirty laundry. I think my dirt is boring, but here goes . . . My first real kiss happened at church camp. I was 15 and the guy was a counselor and he was 19. I wasn’t a camper, but there were campers my age there. He took me behind Wren Rock (a big rock) and we made out for a while. I never saw him or heard from him again, but I called the number he gave me once and a girl answered. He wore Canoe cologne. That’s all the dirt you get today.

Love to all.

P.S. A new STAPLES opened up here!