Now Playing: Laura with her guinea pig and Stephen on the computer.

1 January 2009.

The reason I white rabbited none of you poor people out there this New Year's is that I was at the Wagners' house for the day with two of my charming siblings. Missy and I stayed up until three the night before talking, so when pale sunshine started to slant through the blinds at eight o'clock in the morning, I woke up, blinked, wondered how anyone was supposed to sleep with that much light in the room, and promptly attempted it, with the result that Mrs. Wagner had to wake both Missy and me up at half ten. I took a shower and was downstairs just in time for breakfast, or brunch if you prefer. Missy and Mrs. Wagner had prepared scrambled eggs and French toast casserole. Katie and Missy are the only two Wagner girls home right now, so there were seven at the table. We spent a long time just sitting and talking and laughing so that it was past noon by the time the food was cleared away and the dishes washed.

Mrs. Wagner, Missy, Laura, and I played a game of Scrabble. Philip and Mr. Wagner left to play raquetball on the USAF base, and when they came back, Philip "helped" us. Mrs. W and Missy knitted busily. This is one of Mrs. W's first projects, so both Missy and Laura were giving her advice. The two dogs, Reese (chocolate lab) and Taffy (golden retriever, but looks like an Irish setter), prowled around, tails thumping against the coffee table, hunting for attention. Taffy put her sleek ginger head in my lap so that I could rub her behind the ears.

We played in a leisurely fashion. When we finished our game, and Philip finished his shower, the six of us drove to the base to go bowling. The roads on base are arranged with roundabouts, which always catch me slightly off-guard since I'm used to approaching roundabouts from the opposite direction and having them built up with odds and ends of trees or bits of boats and flowerbeds on them. The bowling alley on base is small, clean, and fairly new. It's also very cheap. One game is only fifty cents. Four of the six lanes were occupied by young families with wee kids. We took the other two lanes, Laura, Mrs. W, and me on one, Philip, Katie, and Missy on the other. Mrs. W won the first game, and I won the second, though I was absolutely abysmal. Mrs. W bought tatertots and French fries, which we consumed quickly. Between turns, I asked Mrs. W questions about her family and how she came to know the Lord--through meeting Christians on base after she and Mr. W were married. She came from a Catholic family.

After a couple of rounds, we drove back to the Wagners' house. Philip ran outside to play with the dogs, and after trying to help the other girls find a film to watch tonight, I joined him. The evening wasn't too cold, but bracing, clear. Taffy was loping along the western fenceline, barking at the next door neighbor's children. Her red-gold fur was silky in the failing sunshine. Reese, on the other hand, was doing what she was made to do: retrieving. Philip and I teased her for being a ball-worshipper. Philip was her high priest. He had a tennis racket, and every time she brought the ball to him, he'd bounce it onto the tennis racket and hold it high above her head, while she stared at it adoringly with her big Precious Moments eyes, until he whacked it far out into the yard with the racket, and she raced after it, tearing up the lawn with her speed, sending grass and dust in spiraling trails as she wheeled to grab it in her mouth. She never tired, though she did slow down and begin to hold onto the ball for a little bit longer. Taffy ran circles around her, barking, trying to play the game, too. Reese growled at her in annoyance. Philip and I ran around with the dogs, laughed at Reese, laughed at Taffy, played tricks on Reese, wrestled with Taffy, and so forth, until Reese was almost too sore to run and the light began to fail. The clear sky overhead was becoming deep ringing blue when we went inside.

Upstairs, Missy and Laura were watching "I Love Lucy". I sat on the floor in Missy's room with them until teatime. Mrs. W had made special Mexican soup and cornbread for tea as a New Year's treat. We sat long over the meal, chatting and laughing. Mr. W teased Philip about his "goat beard" and asked him if he ever found the sudden urge to go around baaing. "Well, he does eat everything in sight," I said, which made them laugh. We sat round, just talking about school and family and life in general, and about politics a little bit.

After tea, we drove to Enid's illustrious mall, where we stood in line for ages to buy tickets and then went to see Marley and Me. Pleasant little story. At least it doesn't gloss over some of the hard parts about marriage and childrearing, though of course I wouldn't know much about that. It was strange to watch the actors "mature" and to try to get one's mind around the fact that this will be me, or at least my siblings and friends, over the next twenty years.

Back at the Wagners' house, Mr. and Mrs. W and Katie went to bed almost immediately, though it was only about twenty to ten. Missy, Philip, Laura, and I made hot chocolate. We sat at the dining room table with a box of oreos and played a round of Mille Bornes. We had to teach Missy. She's supposed to be learning how to be nice to guys, but she claimed (when Philip objected to her playing an accident on him) that that rule was suspended for games. When we finished, at about half ten, we all went to bed. Missy and I only stayed up talking (about CY retreats mostly) for a little while before I was too drowsy to do anything but mutter in agreement, and we both went to sleep.