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Friday, August 7, 4:00 a.m., text from Mark: As you can imagine, I called Mark while getting ready for work.  I could hardly process what he was telling me.  Niki called off the wedding. At the airport. Obviously, there were no tears shed. By that night (at midnight no less), I had him back in Michigan, and Ethan and Rebecca were picking him up from Detroit Metro. While I think we have all breathed a sigh of relief that the wedding didn't happen, we are still seeing after effects of the wedding being called off. The first thing we had to do was circle our wagons around Mark, and make sure that he was okay.  In all honesty, he had been manipulated and controlled by Niki for so long that he just felt free.  No more fear about not responding to her texts quickly enough, no more 2 a.m. Skype sessions because she would only talk to him when she had time, no more awkward times spent with her family where she would act like she loved Mark, but would then t...

While John was here, we decided to try our hand at kayaking.  Several years ago, we kayaked the nearby Betsie river.  While it was nice, we were looking for something a bit bigger...and something that didn't involve leeches.  Trip Advisor told me that the Platte rivers were THE place to be in Traverse City. So, I decided to rent local, and we found a kayak/canoe rental store in Honor, Michigan.  The lady was nice enough.  We had limited time, so we decided to tackle the Lower Platte river, a nice leisurely river with an estimated finishing time of two hours. Thankfully, John agreed to a double kayak.  My arms aren't the strongest, and there is no doubt that I like to sit in the front of the kayak and look like I'm paddling (when I'm really just enjoying the ride that John is providing).  While it was nice to kayak, it was a bit on the boring side.  There wasn't much current, and we finished well under two hours. I guess the upside to there b...

A fun part of being in Northern Michigan in the summer is the annual Cherry Festival, held in Traverse City, Michigan.  While we gave up actually attending the festival a couple of years ago (due to large crowds and craziness altogether), a member of the Kennedy family can usually be found running in the Meijer Festival of Races during the festival.  It's a great way to be part of the festivities in a controlled, fun manner :-) I signed up to run the 10k back in the spring.  5ks are becoming too short of a distance for me to run to feel any kind of challenge (isn't that a lovely thing to say), so I figured the 10k would be better for me.  Afterall, on any given day, I walk 5-6 miles so I figured running it wouldn't be much harder. The hardest part about the whole thing was trying to get the time off work.  My boss at Interlochen wouldn't approve the time off, so I had to find someone who would cover for me.  I initially had someone who was willing to do...

There is always something new to experience at Interlochen.  There is so much to do here, and it's hard to fit  it all in the six short weeks we are here.  This year has been very different from the past five years for me, because I get to work at Interlochen!  I am a member of Stage Services, or Stage Crew.  Basically, I move chairs and stands around all day.  I work in a small venue with two other girls, and we set up for a LOT of choirs.  Usually, our rehearsals only last until 5:00, due to the fact that we have no late-night concerts in our building.  This means that I have a lot of free time at night. Typically, I go home, and Mommy, Glo, and I party down until 10 or 11 pm.  It's a sweet life. Being an Interlochen employee offers me a lot more opportunities to get involved.  I can volunteer to help work the front gate, I can drive around in a golf cart, and I can be a figure model.  Every year, Interlochen posts flyers around...

One of the best nights of the summer happened last night.  We made our annual pilgrimage to the Upton-Morley Pavilion to see Interlochen's Shakespeare production.  This year, it was a light, comical fare with a show of "As You Like It". As it turns out, I did more than like it.  I loved it. We, of course, stuck to our usual tradition of reading the play beforehand which always helps us understand the overall plot of any Shakespeare play, and allows us to anticipate some of our favorite lines.  This summer, it was just Hannie, Glo and I reading it together which meant that we had lots of chances to be many different people, and per our usual summer Shakespeare readings, we did more laughing than actual understanding!  It only took us two nights to get through the entire play. A touching moment came when we stumbled upon a song that is sung in the play: This song means quite a bit to the Kennedy kids.  Three out of the four of the kids have su...

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that it was legal for homosexuals to marry in all fifty states.  I never actually thought that the Supreme Court would make a ruling on this; I figured it would toss the decision back to the states.  I guess I was caught off guard, thinking that we would see many more years of law suits and court decisions about the matter on the state level. Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I do not support gay marriage.  It was over twenty years ago that our church came out with "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and stated:   The family is ordained of God.  Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan.   While our church does not believe in condemning or berating homosexuals, it stands by the divine law that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  There is no other way for spirit sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father to come to earth and...

Yes, I have a bucket list.  It's a new thing.  I came to the realization that I'm probably at least halfway done with my life now, and my body certainly isn't getting any younger.  Funny how that works--I feel like, mentally, I could keep going for years and years, but when I look at how my body is already limiting me physically, I realize that I'd better get going on getting things done. I had been telling myself for years that I would visit Mackinac Island (for Michigan newbies, that's pronounced MackiNAW island).  This seemed especially obvious since I spend every summer just a couple hours away from it.  However, it just wasn't happening.  This year, though, I made it a priority. Glo and I were originally going to drive through Canada and do some research on the Kennedy family, but my heart went out to John who was already going to be away from us for upwards of seven weeks.  I just couldn't extend that time any longer.  However, a trip...