The 2012 holidays came and went in a blur in our household. A calm fall storm season in Florida left my three with extra days to play with Dad. Most of our time was spent role playing, digitally shooting things and each other, and experimenting in the kitchen with the new pasta maker.  When my three teens are underfoot I generally set aside my writing to focus my time on them. Too long though and I start to get a bit restless.
Luckily this year I had a few projects to work on that needed help. We launched the holidays with a fun day trying out a new church, changed clothes and spent several hours in one of my favorite writing haunts going over editations (my daughter’s new word for edit notations) from my advanced readers. It’s always fun to throw each of them a binder and watch compete for who gets to bring up the comments on a given page first. In addition to edits, the new novel Magic’s Tears was ready for Brittanney’s perusal. I suppose it’s my fault she won’t just read the new books on her own. When she was younger I started reading them out loud to her with the kids books Waterfall Valley. It’s something of a tradition now that we share, but it does take up a lot of time. I will miss it when she goes off to college in a year and a half.
Role playing was a bit different this holiday. I’ve been using pen/paper RPG’s to teach them various skills since they were young. At 15 through 17, their skill has improved to the point where games usually go smooth. A few problems cropped up this time though.
Problem one, a split on which RPG to play. Brittanney decided that the old 80’s Marvel Super Heroes wasn’t in vogue this Christmas. With the Mayan end of the world threatening Zombie-apocalypse, she wanted to return to D&D for some good old fashioned undead turning. Normally, she’d be supported, but my sons were entrenched in the plot lines around their heroes.
Problem two, the approaching age of villainy. My sons are of the Want-to-be-Anakin generation rather than the Want-to-be-Luke generation of their father. They’ve begged and lobbied for years to play villains of one stripe or another, particularly in the Star Wars RPG we have. I set an age requirement of 16 for playing villains. Brittanney has been 16 for over a year without a single subtle red glow from her RPG weapons, but this Christmas her brothers – particularly Benjamin who turns 16 in February – drove her to the edge of monologuing her way into the Evil League of Evil. The biggest part of that problem was she turned on her youngest brother, selling him out without any real need to do so. I can’t say he didn’t deserve it, but it was something of a shock.
They went back to Florida yesterday. After dropping them off I stopped by a restaurant to pick up a sandwich for the trip home. An attractive woman, her adult daughter and teen son were in line ahead of me with a large order. They apologized, and I told them not to worry. I had a 3 hour drive ahead of me and to be honest wasn’t in any hurry to sit in the car for the return trip home. The daughter snuck a note to the cashier and paid for my dinner. I thanked them of course, but I wanted to do so again here. I don’t know their names, but it was a wonderful blessing that I really appreciated. Thanks again for the sub!
With the kids safely back in Florida and out from underfoot I enjoyed a prosperous return to my projects today. My breakfast session out at the old Taco Bell grew my current project 7500 words, leaving me with a wide smile and an urge to blog about it.
Happy New Year to you all, may your words find their way into reader’s hands.
