#and then… I met a teacher who was getting her masters degree

[daydreamlng]

.

[harrysmimi]

Professor

Synopsis: One where Harry pays for the consequences of ghosting the girl he was seeing for two months

More of my work

It was pretty late, but Harry was actually excited to finally get back in university and get his master's four years later!

It was his initial plan to do so but he kept putting it off as he was deep in debt, but now that's he's got his life back on track he was ready to get that masters because apparently the Management field looks for papers along with experience for better paying jobs. And honestly he hates his job as assistant to charted accountant now. Though he was already dreading this, his friends Niall and Liam were going with him, they were in the same Marketing and Business Law classes to put his anxious mind at ease.

Him and his friends would probably be the older of the demographic in the batch of this year, but who cares? He's there to learn and get that degree with his name slapped on it. Niall was coming over to pick him today as his car was in service for past one week.

"Oh, she's hot!" Niall commented the girl had seemed to heard it as she picked up her pace of walking, "hope she's in our class. She's got a marketing text book in her hand." He was apparently talking about this girl who just parked next to them and started running towards what he hoped to class.

Harry's heart skipped a beat when he saw her though. She looked awfully familiar to him. Shaking his head he proceeded to go to his first class which was Marketing Management.

The lecture hall was massive for the class strength to be of only 60 students, desks arranged in arranged in tiers to give the lecturer perfect view of the class. A projector set up for the lecture already. Harry and his friends had no other option than to sit on the very first desks, it would be pretty difficult of the trio as they've been the back benchers their whole life.

"Good morning class, I am sorry for being late to the class was about to begin ten minutes ago." The professor barged in with her text book and laptop and Harry almost shat his pants. "Settle down everyone, please." She waited for the class to get settled in their desired places.

"First day of academic year it's always exciting, isn't it? Then it all gets dreadful and by the end of the semester you're like "urgh! I can't wait to be done with this stuff!" but that won't be happening in my class, I'll try to not let that happen at least." The professor went on as she observed the class carefully starting from the very back, "let's start with introducing ourselves to the class, I'll start; I am YN YLN. I teach Marketing and Business Law, I've been teaching for four years now. I come from a family of professors, I mean even my great grand parents from my both parents side were teachers. That's something I like to brag about."

She smiled an adorable cheeky smile. She's really a ray of sunshine, Harry decided.

"Now you all don't have to feel pressured to introduce yourself though it is highly encouraged, if not we'll proceed with our first lesson today." She gave the class a moment.

Surprisingly many students stood up and talked about themselves, where they come from, what they like to do, and all the good stuff like that. The class was actually liking her that much even the shy ones tried to interract.

"Oh my god, she's definitely gonna hate me for calling her hot in the parking lot. She heard me!" Niall murmured to him.

But he's got way worse to deal with her. His professor.

Never in his life he thought he'd ever find himself in a situation like this, ever!

He met YN at the start of summer this year on a dating site. In all honesty he was just looking to get laid but for some reason he took it too far with her without telling her what he really wanted. Yes, he is an asshole for doing that, but he did not expected to have karma hit him this way.

Her dating profile was really what someone who was dating to get married would swipe right in a heartbeat. She was same age as him couple months younger even, she could cook (if anyone cared for that), she was well educated, and had a four year teaching experience at University — though the name of the university was not mentioned — she was a mum to an almost two year old boy.

Least to say he didn't wanted to hook up with her on the first date, she was just that sweet and humble. He just dropped her off to hers and asked if he could take her out for coffee and he did. He saw her over the weekend. Got laid as well. Led her on for five weeks straight. For the first time since he graduated he felt like wanting to get into a relationship, but she called off their date twice last minute because her son was severely sick.

Yeah! He totally feels awful for that. He knew she's a mother and he won't be on her first priority list probably for a very long time if he did not blew things up with her. He didn't even mind that she have a child in the beginning.

Maybe he got scared of the commitment? But she would have understood that as she had talked about getting stood up by dates for the reason, but also made it pretty clear in his opinion that she was looking for something serious if things led to other. He felt even more guilty. He just ghosted her.

And he was starting to like her, a lot. Seeing the way how she talked about her son in most subtle way, he found it very adorable and attractive in a way, she even paid all her mind when he talked about his own interests in his slow tone like he usually does which many find annoying. She had way too much patience to put up with him. She did come off as shy and introverted the whole time and not like as she is being in the class right now.

None of his friends knew he was seeing someone over the summer. That was the little down cor why Professor YLN had his heart running like a wild horse. He almost died when she finally noticed him as a sly smirk took over her pretty features making him sink in his seat like a melting ice cube of a burning iron skillet. He wanted to disappear. Throw himself against the wall.

"Anyone from the front desks? Very familiar faces from around the campus." She asked, eying him with a revenge being plotted in her mind. He is sure she's going to be petty with the look on her face like that. She even glared at Niall who commented on her earlier.

She proceeded with the first topic after two more introductions from the students. Honestly she was amazing at her job. Even more amazing than any of the teachers he's had his entire life (apart from his mother).

"Before we dismissed the class," YN said closing off the tabs on the projector for the class, "I just want to make you know that if you do not understand anything, you can feel free to ask away any of your doubts and please be free to give any feedbacks you have on my teaching methods, if I'm going too fast or too slow with the portion. I'm here to help. My office hours are from 3pm to 4.30pm, you can come in to get your doubts cleared if needed in the future."

"If you have any doubts from today's lecture, I'll be clearing those the first thing in the next class on Wednesday. From the next class onwards the first fifteen minutes would be to clear out any doubts and queries. And that will be all for today. Thank you so much for your time today. Hope you all have an amazing rest of the day." With that she dismissed the class, and left the hall.

"Move, move, move," Harry chanted getting up from his chair almost pushing Niall over who was had taken the aisle seat.

"Patience!" Niall stood up making a way for his friends who barged out like a racing car.

Harry ran straight to the bathroom and locked himself up in a stall as he threw up.

God he's going to have to put up with her for next six months. She's probably going to make his life hell in college. He's probably going to have to his arse off for her class. For a moment he thought he'd blackmail her if she tries to fail him but it won't work as he haven't seen her in a month and things came to an end before he even got accepted into this academic institution. His mind was racing with most stupid and fucked up possibilities as he emptied out the hearty breakfast he had this morning.

He finally got up and made his way out to wash his face but he felt like he was going to pass out if it weren't for Liam who came looking for him, he would have had fallen down and hit his head somewhere.

"You alright, mate?" Liam asked.

All it took was for him to shake his head. "Uhh, yeah!" He somehow pulled himself together.

"You want to go home? I'm sure none of the professors would be getting anything important done today." Liam suggested.

"No, no, I am fine." He shook his head again, washed his face and rinsed his mouth and drank some water Niall gave him.

He was going to have to put up with all this because he was so determined to prove his father wrong that he can actually do something with his life. He was still living in the same old studio flat since he moved out at the age of eighteen, now he's twenty-five, he works a job which pays him just enough to live on cheque go cheque. He had that pressure from his father because his sister was going amazing!

She had written three best selling books out there. She is doing so much better with her life than him. She was in a stable and healthy relationship. Had her own house, two cars. Even his step siblings were better than him in many aspects. But he's happy with what he has is always looked over at and he's compared to everyone who's figuratively doing much better than him at every family gathering.

He has even started to skip those now the best he can.

He went back home his cat Evie all tired and still feeling about shit he probably have put YN through. Even the cat reminded him of her now, Evie loved the girl more than him and she was over all for four times at his.

For fucks sake it was just a two months thing he shouldn't make a big deal out of it, man up and apologise to her.

And he did. He texted her, waited for an entire for reply just to remember she was really bad at texting, she admitted to it and that she preferred to talk on phone calls instead.

It was Tuesday night when he called her. It rang through twice but she didn't answer. He just tried to go to bed but he couldn't sleep all night. He wanted to drive upto her house but it would have it's own consequences if anyone from his class saw him. He did talked to many of his classmates on the first day who lived in the same area as hers.

On the Wednesday morning he got to know two his classes were cancelled for the day, which YN takes. That worried him because he saw on Tuesday on campus busy with her other classes. It took a text for him mum requesting him to take her to the hospital as she was having some sever allergic reactions, so he was more worried about that instead of dealing with the shit he had spread.

His mum was very sick to add to his worries, he drove her to the emergency room and waited for doctors to check on her outside. She was advised to stay there for the day and could go home in the evening if everything was under control with the medications she was given.

"You want me to get you something?" Harry asked.

"A bottle of water would be good," Anne nodded.

"I'll be back," he smiled, kissing her forehead he headed out. He had to walk all the way to the hospital canteen as there were no vending machines in this hospital which actually worked. He was already frustrated that he can to walk tem minutes to get his mother a bottle of water she needed. He can do no thing right!

"Can I get a black coffee with no sweetner and a bottle of water please?" He asked the cashier, already finishing for his wallet in his back pocket. He had to wait for his coffee so he took a seat at one of the table.

He decided to call YN again as he waited. She did answered it this time but a phone rang just behind him catching his attention.

"Hello?" He said.

"Hello, Harry if it is not anything urgent can I call you later?" She rushed in a murmur.

"Yeah, but are you okay?" He looked around to find her at the table just behind her, looking all tensed.

"Yes. I'll, I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay." He said and hung up.

He left her alone there, as she seemed to with a lady who reckoned to be her mother. He didn't wanted to bother her and he had his mother to worry about too.

......................................................................

It was the next morning he got a call back from YN just when he was about to text her again and go on to get ready for uni. His mum was doing good and was sent back home in the evening as expected.

"Hey, you needed any help that you called yesterday?" She asked, getting straight to the point, she sounded very tired on the other side of the call.

"Hi," he took in a deep breath, "ummm, I wanted to talk."

"If it's something related to class I don't know if I'll be help now, but I'll try my best, what is it?" She asked, politely.

"No, no it's not related to class. I, ehm, want to apologise for what I did." He said, "I shouldn't talk about this over a phone call, if we could meet?"

"I don't think that's a good idea now, Harry," she suggested, "and I can't see you right now. Whatever happened I'm just over it, you and I can move on from it and be professionals."

"You're going to forgive me that easily?" He asked. Hurt honestly that she's not going to hold anything against him because he truly believes he deserves that.

He heard a frustrated sigh from the other side, "I have got other things to worry about and what you did is honestly the least of my worries." She made it clear to him, "if you're worried I might fail you in either of your classes, I won't. I am not petty. You've got nothing to worry about just be good with your progress, I assure you will be treated as rest of the students." That hit him like a truck but with a whiff of cold air.

"I am not worried about that." Lie. A half lie. Or you can even a quarter lie. "I genuinely feel bad for ghosting you like that."

"And I forgive you for that, okay?" He was getting on her nerves now which was evident through her voice, "it's okay. Now if you're done, I have somewhere to go to."

"Yeah." He sounded before he heard the line go dead.

......................................................................

YN was miserable seeing her baby so sick. He had a surgery coming up this afternoon which had much higher rates of full recovery but it stung at her motherly heart that he even has to go through all of this.

He was born with atrial septal defect but doctors said it isn't fetal and he can live just normal. He basically had a tiny hole in his tiny heart. It wasn't until last month that he started getting sick and sick, that doctors suggested it was better to get the surgery done. Her insurance covered the costs of the surgery but the stay at hospital for next week was something she couldn't afford as she was paying off the rest of the loan for the house she lives in now.

Her parents weren't happy with having a baby, especially when she got knocked up by a random dude she hooked up with who refused to be involved with his life. She was going through her rebellious phase in college instead of going through it when she was teenager. Her parents being religious did not helped either when she decided she wanted to keep the child. They almost kicked her out and they did, but they came around sooner than she expected, helped her around until she got her life together. She is their only child.

YN was just so shocked when her dad called her one evening to give the house he bought for her to give her as a wedding present which he worked his whole life for. She was really grateful for that because she was really struggling with finances and raising a tiny human. Her parents do teach her lessons which are much needed but they're very supportive of her which she finds herself to be fortunate of.

She had no face to go ask for help from her parents now, her dad had given her everything, he bought her a house and furnished it for her, even her car was bought by him. She didn't tell them that her son has a condition since he was born, until her mother saw her at the hospital yesterday as she was there with her father to get her routine check up done. Least to say her father still loves her that he agreed to help her out in a heartbeat, though they've had a very rocky relationship from past almost three years.

The thing with Harry was least she can worry about. He was just a guy she met a few months ago. Her son was her life time commitment she made the moment she decided to keep her pregnancy. Which was definitely the best one she has made in her life.

She went to see her son who was resting in his room as the OT was being prepared for him. She didn't know how she was going to tell him what the doctors are going to do to him but she was going to try as the doctors have suggested it. A nursed was checking up on him as he had just woken up from his nap. He was a bit sleepy due to the medications or else he is usually tailing after her so she can drop him off at daycare so he can go play with his friends Justin and Sienna.

"How is my little Lion doing?" She asked, he was dressed in his Lion King PJs he threw a massive tantrum for in the middle of the store for, he was obsessed with the show for some reason.

"Mamma!" He whispered.

"He's doing great." The nurse said, "we'll take him to the OT in an hour."

"Yeah, thank you." YN nodded politely at the nurse as she left. "Did you had a good sleep?"

"Mhmm." He nodded pushing his hair away from his face, YN helped him with that. "Simba is there, Mamma look." He pointed at the wall art in his room.

"Yeah, you finally saw it." YN cooed.

"I wan, I wan go home." He looked at her with his big doe eyes, sad like a small puppy, he still stutters while talking even though his vocabulary for almost two year old much more advanced, YN found it adorable to say the least.

"We will go home soon, okay? I promise." She assured him, "do you want to cuddle?"

"Mhmm."

YN sat up on his bed, placing him in her lap careful of the IV on his arm. He immediately snuggled into her chest.

"When we goin' home?"

"Uhmmm, after you're feeling fully better." YN stuttered to answer him, "for that you know the doctor will have to operate on you so you can get better faster and we can go home."

"What is that?" He asked.

"That is a bit difficult for me to explain, my baby, but when you're sleeping the doctor will help your heart feel better so you can go play with Justin and Sienna." YN shared, "Mamma wants you to know that it is okay, I'm here with you, yeah?"

"Mhmm." He nodded, "I miss Daisy."

"Yeah, you miss her?" She cooed. Daisy was YN's Persian cat she has had since she was eighteen. "She said she misses you too, but she wants you to stay here."

"Why?" He whined.

"So you can get better to play with her too." YN reminded him, "you're feeling not well, right?"

"No well." The little boy shook his head.

"Yeah, she said she loves you and wants to play with you loads and loads when you get back home." She tried to hype her up the best she could. He's just two years old to say the most. "I love you."

"I love you." He repeated. "I wan ice cream please, Mamma."

"What else do you want?"

"A big Burger, please?" He chirped in excitement because she doesn't let him eat junk food as much as her friends let him.

"A big burger it is." She agreed using the same tone he used to describe the size of food he wants.

"I wan a lion toy." He demanded.

"You already have one." YN gasped.

"A big one!" He exclaimed the best he could lifting his free arm up to show his mother a size of a stuffed animal he desires. And proceeded to talk about all the animals he likes and randomly talking about food in between.

She wonders if he is going to be a zoologist when he grows up.

He did had a little breakdown, it was pretty obvious an almost two year old is going to be scared to be rolled on a stretcher by strangers to a scary looking room. But he did well. The surgery took three hours in total to be completed but it was a success and he was doing amazing!

"Your son is doing amazing, Ms. YLN." The doctor shared with her during the consultation after the surgery in his office, "he will be off the anesthesia by morning, we'll have to have him under observation for next five to six days — or less depending upon his recovery speed — before he can go home and have weekly check ins if needed for next six weeks."

"Oh okay," YN nodded, "thank you so much for your help doctor. I hope he wasn't too scared."

"He was but we talked about things he loves, he apparently loves animals a lot." Doctor shared the humourous moment with YN's son in the OT.

"Oh yeah, he does." She chuckled.

......................................................................

YN had to go back to work on the Monday as she could not take anymore leaves. Luckily her mother offered to stay at the hospital until she gets off.

She was dreading the office work she had to do, and she have to cover up the portion she missed for week as soon as humanly possible. First semesters usually tend to go faster for her for some reason. She had cut off her office hours for next couple of weeks now just so she can go back to her baby and have talk her ears off about a new animal documentary he watched with his Nani.

She was so grateful that her day came to an end at work, she still had to go home and pack a change of clothes for him and some food for her mother and herself. But he heard knock on her cabin, she saw the same frog face she was harbouring a massive crush on months ago. She wanted to smack that stupid of his when he ghosted though.

"Yes, Harry how may I help you?" She asked, gathering her stuff so she can work the time she gets when her is sleeping. He really had his notes printed in his hand.

"I have a doubt." He said, "do you mind if I come in?"

"Sure." She nodded. He's her student she's not going to ask him to leave when that's what she gets paid for. Turned out he genuinely had a doubt which she explained him in matter of ten minutes. "Is there anything else you meed help with?"

"No, that was all, thank you so much." He smiled. "Are you okay? Saw you at the hospital last week when I was there with my mum."

"I am fine, it was my son he's doing good now." She shared as she closed her laptop and put it back in her bag, "I will share the presentation on the classroom online do you can take notes from them, tell your friends about it too."

"I will," he nodded. "What happened to him if you don't mind me asking?"

"Actually I do mind." She smiled a forced thin lipped smile, "thank you for being concerned though."

"Sorry." He mumbled sheepishly looking down biting on his lip, "I'll take a leave now." With his head down he just left. YN instantly felt bad for talking to him like that.

......................................................................

It was three weeks later and YN's som was back home. He has been doing great and spending all his days with his grandma when his mum goes to work.

YN have finally gotten back on track with the portion she has missed on the days she took off. She had assigned the first assignments to her classes, and god it was going to be a hassle with double the queries coming in her way. She thought five classes including both UG and PG students and one extra class this semester as one of the professor is on a maternity leave.

"I clearly don't get paid enough for this!" She mumbled to herself as she frustratedly checked the first few assignments the students have turned in just to get over with.

Well, she get it. She was a student not too long ago and she is still studying for her PhD but this was atrocious how students actually treat their teachers. She had to turn all of the assignments back to the students with individual remarks on individual assignment.

Recently all she have been wanting to do is just spend time with her baby boy. But all she have to resort to from eight in the morning to six in the evening is just to look at his picture on her desk she recently put up on her mother's suggestion. The boy was doing amazingly, recovering faster than expected, getting back to starting to be active again and be his tiny human self.

YN was going to get him to get a hair cut in a long time now because he willingly asked for it this weekend. And he's been excited about it all week. It was also his second birthday.

YN had decided to go very lowkey on with the celebration unlike her and her father did for his first birthday. She doesn't want him to hurt himself because she knows how hyper he can get when around other children with adrenaline and run and jump around like there's no tomorrow. He still needs to be easy as he heals from a major surgery.

So it was just going to be him, his friends Justin and Sienna coming over for a play date later in the evening in the backyard. His Nana went over board and got him a slide and a swing set to add to plethora of his outdoor toys like a mini golf course and a basketball hoop he got on his first birthday. YN was going to take him out on a little date, buy him two new toys he wishes for and get a hair cut.

She had her day planned out with her baby, getting her all happy and giddy already.

And just when she is about to leave it was Harry coming to her office for yet another doubt. At this point she genuinely started to believe be never has any doubts because she sees him pay attention in class and she never speaks or asks questions, and he asks ber random questions like he did on their dates. He always manages to go to her office with doubts just when she's about to leave. YN finds it annoying because she figured he's always to everything and she thrives on time decipline since she was very young.

"I did not understand the Consumer behaviour." He said, not even bothering to hide his cheeky smirk as he walked in and took a seat on the chair in front of her desk, putting his half written notes on her desk.

"What do you not understand about it? I guess it have been repeated taught to business and management students for years." She reminded him.

"This is my first semester in college after four years of working as an accountant. I think my knowledge has been rusted a bit since." He explained. She took a look at his notes to know what he might have and not have understood. There was nothing but the title of today's lecture written with a black pen in block letters on an unruled page of the book.

"You have literally written nothing." She pointed.

"Exactly, my point." He shrugged.

"What did you not understand?" She asked.

"How does demand law come into play with consumer behaviour?" He asked.

"Because it is basically a behaviour." She said.

"How?"

"You know when prices go high the deman decline and that decline comes from customers desire for not wanting to spend that much on something and vice versa." She explained, hints of frustration now laced through her tones. "And that desire for not wanting to or wanting to buy a particular good is a behaviour by customers who are the consumers."

"Good, okay." He nodded, clicking his pen open, "can you repeat that, please?"

YN took in a deep breath and out, "I will explain this entire topic again, tomorrow morning the first thing in the class and I will be conducting a class test the very next day on the same. Now if you're done with your querie, my shift is already over."

"Hey, I'm sorry," he rushed chuckling, "now that your shift is over and you're no longer my professor, can I ask you something?"

"In premises of this campus, I am still your professor." She reminded him, "and Harry please I am begging you do not do something which both of us would have to regret and face consequences for. I have a son and I need this job."

"I won't, I promise. I just feel bad for—"

"I know you do and I told you I forgive you for that. Make peace with it and move on for gods sake?" She interrupted him. "So when we see each other again on Monday, we're nothing more than professor and student, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded as the dimples on his cheeks disappeared in instant. He just grabbed his book and his bag and left her office.

......................................................................

When YN got back home she couldn't help but shake the face of upset Harry off her sight.

She did started with her usual routine with asking her son clean his play area after she got freshen up and started preparing for dinner with him next to her. She had him fed, gave him his medications and tucked him in bed. She have now moved his bed to her room for the time being so she can keep an closer eye on her. She kissed him good night before she got into her own bed.

She went on to her phone after a very long time. Checking in on what her uni friends are upto now on Instagram. Most of them traveling for work whilst others were just having their own babies. When she stumbled upon stories of Harry.

She is still following him. Just when she was about to go to his profile and hit the unfollow button, she saw him partying with his friends. She recognised everyone from her class, especially the blonde named Hope, being inappropriate in the background as his two friends took shots. Least to say YN quickly unfollowed him immediately.

Yes, she fell for it quickly. She had a crush on him the moment she saw him on her phone screen really. It was her who had downloaded the dating app that one night, she's got no friends who would actually hype her to do so. All them are busy with their own shenanigans. Part it was pressure from her family and her extended family that she's unmarried and already has a kid and part of it was her loneliness.

She matched with couple of people she went on few dates on but none of them went further than one date until Harry. He actually did not judge her when she told him she's got a son even though she's his own age. She had many men and women just tell her that they're not interested in her after she'd casually mention about her son even though she had it mentioned on her profile.

Harry said he actually read that when she swiped right on her. The summer with him was amazing!

Especially when her son was spending much more time at her Nani's house as his cousins would be there. For the first time after having him she has that free time to actually give herself that much needed time. He actually seemed to care about her whenever with her, he'd even text her to check up on her but she is very bad with checking her texts.

......................................................................

The mother and son duo were dressed in matching black hoodies and jeans with boots as they headed out after a nice breakfast with Nana and Nani.

"Ohhh!" The little boy squealed a sound of amusement seeing the London Eye for the first time as they walked to the salon for his appointment. She was going to take him there the next day.

"Hello little lad," the guy who was going to cut his hair greeted him as he placed the boy on a chair and placed a cloak around his neck.

"You don't have to be afraid of the noises the machine would make, okay? It's not going to hurt." YN assured him. She explained the hair dresser how she wants her boy's hair to be cut.

For the longest YN did not understood why he had dark honey blond hair but later learned she had the same hair when she was born but her's darkened up before she turned one. His just decided to blond for a long time. All the while he sat there giggling and laughing, feeling ticklish from the buzz of the electric clippers.

"You like that?" YN asked once the hair cut was done.

"I love it!" He exclaimed raising his hands up in excitement to celebrate.

"Yeah? What do you say then?" YN suggested.

"Thank you." He looked at the hair dresser.

"You're welcome." The guy smiled.

Later the mother son duo went on shopping. They walked around the entire toy store.

"Mamma, I wan this!" The little boy hit at the box with a picture of a pretty blue doll house.

"Yeah, do you also want dolls to put in it?" She suggested.

"Mhmm." He nodded.

"Okay, lemme put that in our cart, okay?" She placed him in the seat on the shopping cart and strapped him before she put the choice of his toy in the cart. "Do you also want to get a few presents for your friends?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

After they headed straight to parking lot and YN drove them to a restaurant for lunch. They were having an amazing day really. They went back home and wrapped the presents they got for his friends and put them in individual bags like a little hamper. YN remember this was something her parents did on her birthdays up until her eighteenth birthday. It was a nice gesture and who does like gifts. That really taught her growing up that the world really doesn't revolve around ber even though she was quite spoilt as a child.

She wants her son to learn that early, the feel of being grounded even though he's twice as spoilt by her parents.

The kids had amazing time playing their to exhaustion. YN's parents got along with Sienna's mother who held same interests in English and Hindi literature, talking about things she's never heard of. YN never read a novel in her life even though ber dad is an English professor and her mother is French and English professor. It was never her cup of tea which her dad like to tease her about.

"He's seem to be doing really great now." Alex, Justin's dad said.

"Yeah, Sienna missed her friend too, she was asking about him." Marie joined in.

"Yeah, he's doing very well." YN nodded admiring her son laughing and giggling with his friends from afar. He just turned two and he's got more friends than her. "He was talking about Justin and Sienna too. They've become best friends, haven't they?"

"Okay, maybe we should discard that conclusion for a while." YN mum stood up immediately watching the kids now starting to fight over something. The fight was resolved and they were back to playing again. "They're best friends again!"

......................................................................

Everyone came in for a nice dinner YN and her dad made today. The kiss still wanted to play but were promised another playdate tomorrow at Sienna's house the same time. YN parents stayed after to help her clean the mess the kids had made before leaving.

She bathed the boy and put him to bed before she headed down to get herself a glass wine. Though she wasn't a big fan of drinking even a glass of alcohol but she needed it after stressful couple of weeks. Just as she was about to pop open a new bottle of wine Alex gifted YN and Marie after he returned from his trip from Italy like six months ago. He said it was something fruity, like berries. Just as she was about to pop open the bottle there was a knock on the door. She peeped through the hole as she was alone at home and it has gotten quite late at night. It was Harry to her surprise.

"Hi," she said after she opened the door.

"Hi," he smiled, awkwardly, "came to talk if you have a moment."

"I, ehm, do you want to come in?" She asked already stepping aside so be can walk in. He nodded and walked in, took off his shoes by the door. He was immediately greeted by Daisy trying to trip over as he followed YN in to the living room. "Please sit, would you like me to get you something?" She proceeded to walk into kitchen where he followed her to.

"No, I'm good." He said, politely, yet she got him a glass of water. "I want to see you again, I am sorry for ghosting you like that. I shouldn't have knowing you wouldn't do that on purpose unless it was something serious."

"What did you thought?" She was confused.

"I thought you didn't wanted to see me," he admitted, "you used your son being sick as an excuse. I know that was very childish of me and I am really sorry for that."

"Even if you are sorry nothing can happen now, you're my student, I can't pursue a relationship with my student." She kept tone was as low as he could hear with frustrated and upset undertone, "I would never make an excuse. Especially my son being sick. Thank you for telling how low you think of me." Her vision started to het blurry with tears, she looked down quickly to pick up the wine opener and putting it in it's place, next was the bottle

"I don't think low of you, YN, don't say that." He stressed on defending himself.

"Heydar, my son was really sick, okay. I am not going to give you an explanation but that's how I felt when you said that." She shared, "that's what I feel like is the truth. He had an open heart surgery not even a month ago and he turned two just today, you knew I was going to put him first before anyone, even myself. You thought I'm that much of a coward that I'd lie about an innocent two year old boy being severely sick just to get out of the situation with you?"

"I get it, I am so sorry about that." He apologised again with his head hung low, "I never dated since I graduated — well not this once before — so it was a rollercoaster ride to be with you emotionally for me because those were the best two months I've ever spent in a very long fucking time. I just thought after we slept together that you didn't want to have to do anything with me. We became really good friends if not anything more and I ghosted you at the time you needed all the emotional support."

He talks slow but YN stood there listening to him. Carefully. "I want to fix this. Really. But I don't know how to. I want to fix this."

Harry's never been hung up on anyone. Especially since that one time where his friends conned him to basically go on a date and set him up so cleverly. He actually started getting along with that girl and after they both slept together for the first time she just told it on his face she doesn't want to go any further with him. It was worse than being ghosted he felt that time. YN's situation was worse here. He also knew that the pressure from his family to do better in his career had something to do with it that it scared him off from the commitment.

All those times she's just take out even fifteen minutes for him if her son was with her parents, she'd go to see him after work. He knew she was a professor but he didn't know she worked at the University he applied and got approved at. The way she'd go over evey little text he'd sent her through the day, every little meme which sort of reminded of him she'd carefully reply each one of them at the end of the day when she'd finally get the time to look at her phone, entertainment herself to clear her mind for a little before going to bed.

And YN wouldn't lie, she needed that emotional support if not financial support from her parents and she didn't exactly had good friends to rely onto for that. Her brown parents aren't exactly best at showing emotional affection or any affection at all, and she even felt guilty to ask for it because she's put them through hell her entire life being rebellious and especially after getting pregnant by a hook-up.

Though it wasn't anyone's business but the cultural environment she grew up liked to make it their business anyway, very much so that people started side eying her parents, especially her mother for her upbringing. Especially criticising them for having their daughter attend the Sex Ed classes for her own good before she was married, which allegedly influenced her to get pregnant with a strangers baby.

Her parents are long over it but she still carries that guilt with her.

Having a part of her go through a major procedure drained her mentally and emotionally. It is surely a bad time for her (she's certain it is going to pass), she knows no one is entitled to make her feel good mentally and emotionally but herself. So she didn't let the thing with Harry affect her that much, though she did cried the night after he didn't answer her texts.

"I don't know what you want me to do with it, Harry, I am quite confused here." She shared, "I know that I have been clear from the very first time we talked that I am looking for a long term commitment. I've got a son and I can't go out and date every other person and drag him through all of it and scar him emotionally and mentally for his life. I still don't know why you ghosted me like that. That can not be the only reason. I was so hurt that you led me on for two months just to sleep with me. You ignored me the night after I went over to yours and we had sex."

She took in a long breath to calm herself from crying in front of him, she didn't wanted that. "Then again. We were only seeing each other for mere two months. I don't know why I let myself go hurt me like that. It was just a summer fling for you."

"No, don't say that, please." He took a careful step over to the kitchen island separating them. "What I feel for you is still very real, I wouldn't say what we had was just a summer fling for me, I simply got scared of the commitment. I know should have conveyed that in a proper way like a decent human. I am really sorry for that. Please gimme a chance to fix this, YN?"

"So you're not scared of commitment anymore?" She sounded amused.

"I am not." He answered in a heartbeat. "I've got my shit together now. I know fucked up." When she didn't say anything it hit him that they can't technically date because she is her professor now, amd will be even if the semester is over and even after he graduates. "There's no way we can get back to where we left, isn't it?" He sighed.

"I don't know." She said.

"What about after the semester ends? It's not like we got to know each other on campus. We were seeing each other way before." He started brain storming.

"I don't want to talk about this." She said, knowing it is going to hurt her even more with faux convincing.

The university can still hold it against her saying that she should have informed them earlier if they get back together, it's been over a month and half since the academic year started.

She was still not over how he ghosted her. He was the first person she was open to be vulnerable enough to be share something that intimate after having a child. He did broke her heart that way badly.

"Mamma!" YN heard a high pitched call of a whine for her, she looked up to find her little boy going down the stairs slowly, clutching onto the railing. She rushed towards him even though he had quite master going down stairs by now.

"What's wrong, my love?" She cooed to him immediately scooping him up.

"I scared." He shared hiding in her chest, "I saw a monster when I sleeping."

"It's okay," she assured him, "it was not real. Monsters are not real."

"Scared!"

"Okay, okay, Mamma is here with you. You can go back to sleep."

"No!" He whined clutching onto her like his life depends on her in that moment, "I wan Mamma!"

"Okay, I'm here." She assured her and almost went upstairs forgetting Harry was there. But she went down as Heyder clung onto her like a baby koala, dozing back to sleep.

Harry saw her coming back downstairs, he saw her son for the first time here. He never saw his pictures before. But the little boy was wearing mismatched Rapunzel and Iron Man PJs, with a small stuffed bunny tucked in his grip.

"Just stay here for a moment." YN told him as she walked back into living room. She was there for solid ten minutes as her son refused to go back to sleep, so she gave him a sensory book which made car noises to play with as she went back to kitchen after telling him they have a guest over. Heyder tried mimicking the sound of an engine starting which made Harry giggle. He looked at YN and stopped immediately, the same neutral look on her features hasn't left yet but he thought she found it offending.

"Sorry." He cleared his throat.

"It's okay." She smiled herself hearing her son in the living room. He stood there in silence between them two with weird car noises in the back for what felt like ages before he decided he better take his ass out of her house. She isn't going to kick him out or ask him to leave. He isn't going to get his answer, at least not in that moment.

"Alright, see you tomorrow in class Ms. YLN." He smiled, earning a nod from her.

"I'll walk you to the door." She said and followed him out, "umm Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Just don't talk about this to anyone, not even your friends please?" She requested, "I can loose my job and you can get expelled if the word goes to the faculty in a wrong way."

"You're going to talk about this?" He asked.

"I will have to. I have no other choice." She admitted, "don't want to face bigger consequences later for this."

"Okay. I won't talk about this to anyone." He assured her. It gave him hope for reconciliation with her.

As they walked to her front door he saw the little lad trailing begin YN close by. Harry also noticed the balloon and decoration and big Happy Birthday banner in the living room still up, a few unopened presents left on the coffee table.

"It's still his birthday?" Harry asked.

"Mhmm." YN sounded.

"Can I wish him if you don't mind?" He asked, they were already at the door.

"Sure."

"Hiya," Harry looked at her son, bending down to make himself appear smaller, "Happy Birthday little lad." He shied away behind his mother smiling.

"What do you say, Heydar?" YN encouraged him.

"Thank you." He mumbled.

"Of course, darling." Harry chuckled seeing him forward his small hand for a handshake which he returned gladly. He finally took his leave and walked out. It was slightly awkward he wouldn't lie. YN shut the door after he left and locked it before turning to find her son still stood in his place.

"Let's get your bum-bum back in bed now!" She announced, the little boy squealed as he started running around. But she caught him scooping him up in her arms tickling his sides. "Do you want to sleep in Mamma's bed?"

"Mhmm." He nodded.

......................................................................

Months passed by, quicker for YN and slow like a turtle for Harry.

Though he's really gotten his shit together. Set firm boundaries with his parents who always tried to put pressure on him to do better and compare him to his sister who is conventionally more successful than him.

He doesn't care if he's got a partner to settle with. He doesn't care what people think of his job, he loves it!

Harry learned he's been hating his job just because of his parents constant pressures to get a better job, or at least beg his way for a promotion. Well he's been working in that firm for just two years, he left the previous company for their unethical work environment. He's sure he'll get a promotion sooner than he'd expect, his boss is very impressed by it. He learned it was better to not let his work consume his life whilst he still has time to live and enjoy the best he can really.

Somewhere YN was the one behind it all even if she didn't know it. Her little pieces of wisdom in class to her student for occasional motivation really changed his perspective on life. Corporate was fucked and will be fucked for the rest of the days, you just don't have to let it fuck you over and ruin your life. She'd never talked to him about them yet though he knows he had talked to her higher faculty. He doesn't know what they told her, she refused to say even a word about it. She'd prohibited him for visiting her house since.

Harry's sister Gemma and one of his cousin's lived on the same street as hers. His sister liked to have him over for meals because he does eat well according fo her and she likes to spend time with him. They grew up apart from each other after Harry started his middle school and both of them were sent to different bording schools for higher studies so, it was her way to make up for lost time with her baby brother. She truly loves him, Harry came to realise sooner.

He couldn't help but be hung up on this situation with YN. He still haven't gotten over her yet and seeing her everyday does little to nothing to help him.

But once the semester ended, he'd gotten a call from her to meet her up for lunch at the same resturant where they went for their first date. It was her treat she said, celebration of him passing the first of four semesters.

A rather bright weekend it was, clear sky and perfect weather as Harry drove down to this little restaurant. She was already there he noticed. He still doesn't know how she does this even though she's got a toddler of her own to look after. But he saw a little black stroller besides her with his sun cover zipped up and she was busy reading from the University handbook. Thay scared him.

Gathering all his courage Harry went to greet her, the small talk killing him as they ordered their food. Her telling how her son had a doctor's appointment earlier and she doesn't have anyone to look after him for a couple of hours so she had no choice but to bring him with her. Little boy was fast asleep anyway, Harry didn't mind a little toddler around him. Especially one as sweet and well behaved as Heydar.

"YN what is it? You never called me to meet you like this before," he said cutting to the chase, "it's making me anxious."

"Sorry." She mumbled, "I talked to my head of department about, about you and I, and ehm..." She stammered.

"What's wrong? Is everything alright?" His enquiry gree more anxious.

"Yes." She rushed through a breath, "I explained it to her everything, Mrs. Davis, you might know her—"

"YN I'm not in your class anymore." He reminded her.

Caught. She couldn't look up, "okay, I explained it to her that we had been seeing each other since before and we never talked about you applying at my university. Since I didn't had any correlation with you getting approved in the uni, and I had to show her some proofs you can say."

"She said she'd evaluate everything because she doesn't want you to get expelled because you're an exceptional student and she doesn't want me to loose my job. She talked with the school board and they said it was okay." She said. Just her last word was enough to make Harry let out the breath he didn't know he was caught on. "But..."

"Why is where a but now?" His brows pinched together on his forehead.

"But they said they'd evaluate my non-biased judgement on you as your professor as it would be unfair for other students if I were to give the person I'm see a little extra help outside. That is why I asked you to not visit because there are many of my students who live in my neighborhood and new in institutions spread like wildfire." She continued, "they said I should just lay low until the semester is over unless you plan on taking any of the other classes I teach, or until you graduate. We both are going to be under strict eye, especially me as your professor."

"Is it illegal?" He asked.

"Not in the UK, no." She shook her head, "they said because we're of same age they don't see a problem of power imbalance, but there could be possibilities. They just want to protect their students."

He sat there, leaning his back on his seat as he let this all sink in. YN continued, "I understand if you don't want to have to continue us seeing each other, I had to tell them anyway. I know it's a lot to take in and I couldn't talk to you about this until now. I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't apologise." He rushed pushing himself up to sit on his chair, "I know how much you need this job, wouldn't do anything to put it at risk, I promise you that."

"Does this mean you're okay with this setting?" She hesitated to even assume.

"More than okay," he assured her, a toothie grin on his face showing off his front bunny teeth. "I've been hung up on you since little lad's birthday night. I was dying each day and seeing you all week for two hours didn't helped me one bit." He pulled his chair next to her careful to not knock the stroller in attempt to be closer to her, "I might have fallen for you already and easily it's amazingly the most insane thing I've gotten myself into. Let me make it up to you now that we've got ourselves a sort of green flag, yeah?"

"Mhmm." She nodded, opening her arms up so he can hug her. He the exact same wrapped his arms around her middle firmly.

They were going on a date soon!

N O T E:

1) just a fun one I wrote in a few sittings :)))

2) please do share your views in the comments and vote if you want to. It just really motivates me to write more.

Tag list:

@vrittivsanghavi @buckymydarlingangel @sweetwritingfanficfriend @theroosterswife24 @sleutherclaw @melllinaa @michellekstyles @sunshinemoonsposts

Lemme know if you want to added to the tag list

[phanfictioncatalogue]

15k Words (2) Masterlist

part one

A-Lister (ao3) - tastefulcucumber

Summary: Phil’s Dad owns a small photography business. Daniel Howell, academy-award winning actor decides that Lester’s Portraits is the best place to get his head-shots for his portfolio. He expects to get his pictures taken, but what he doesn’t expect is the photographer’s son to be so captivating. No one else has treated Dan this normal since the beginning of his acting career. Maybe that’s just what Dan needs, a friend who is there for him, and not for his status.

A Little Bit Of Magic - dxnhowell

Summary: Dan is the new potions teacher at Hogwarts and is muggleborn, this is his first year teaching and whilst he’s excited, he has to get used to being in the castle with absolutely no muggle technology. Phil is the herbology teacher and is clumsy and likes puns and likes to help Hagrid with his magical creatures. Dan and Phil eventually meet and become rather close, some of the students realize this and try to get them together before the end up of the year.

Amaryllis (ao3) - bokeae

Summary: In which Dan has to wed Princess Alice when he would much rather marry her brother, Philip.

Ardour (There’s a World Outside These Walls) (ao3) - centroid

Summary: Dan’s facade crumbled. His breathing was the first to go, leaving his lungs with short gasps of air. He brought his hands up to press the heels of his palms into his eye sockets as tears trekked down his cheeks. Dan’s romantic life was always covered in a veil of sorrow, but never once had he cried over it. Never once did he let his walls down and just weep. Dan was relieved, so relieved but at the same time he was in despair. It was as if his fate had been set in stone, finalizing that he was and would forever be alone. In a world with its foundation dug heel toe into romance, he was someone who had to go without.

billet-doux (ao3) - Tarredion

Summary: Dan and Phil, gang leaders and rivals to the highest degree, harbor big secrets they want no one to see

Coffee and Calligraphy (ao3) - brookwrites

Summary: Dan’s a barista at the local cafe, where writer!Phil decides to sit with his journal. Dan likes Phil. A lot. But things change when Dan finds something out about Phil that breaks his heart.

Colour Me Blue (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: What if a boy, whose heart was so full of darkness, that he couldn’t believe in colours anymore, met someone so full of light who slowly painted his world bright again?

Demons In My Head (ao3) - kae_karo

Summary: An unconscious demon mysteriously shows up on Dan's property, and Dan heals it, promising he'll send it back to where it came from as soon as he finds out why it's there. Finding the will to banish a charming demon is harder than he thought.

for you I’d wait (til kingdom come) (ao3) - blueshirt

Summary: The time that Dan misunderstands one little conversation—which he still maintains is PHIL’S FAULT, not his—and it leads to six years of unrequited pining.

going the wrong way home (ao3)- moonlightmusings

Summary: the almost-college au where dan and phil take a summer road trip.

I heard the March birds singing, and oh, what a beautiful sound. (ao3) - emonerd_io

Summary: Inspired by the anime 四月は君の嘘 (Your Lie in April)!

The piano initiated the opening chords, and she drew the melody out in simple, yet alluring and complex lines. It’s a tune Dan did not recognise, but fell in love with immediately. Deep, and filled with a certain longing, yet tragically beautiful. It’s the type of music that allows you to fathom why exactly some people practise for years and for decades, trying to master their craft, just to play something so modest and stark, yet so exquisite.

This is the story of two young musicians, Dan and Phil, and how their lives became entwined over the course of one year in high school.

In Faded Holograms They Speak (ao3) - artdeficient

Summary: They’re in japan and nothing seems to make sense, so they hide in hotel rooms and pretend they can’t see what’s right in front of them, and it works, for a while. (badlands au based off of halsey’s album)

no longer feel alone (ao3) - natigail

Summary: who'd have known that a random act of kindness from a stranger could lead to this.

refraction (ao3) - indistinct_echo

Summary: (To be read after completing Monochrome by intoapuddle.)

Dan doesn’t want to wait any longer: it’s time to share with Angie and PJ his Fall Whisperer identity. This really isn’t so scary… oh, who is he kidding, it’s terrifying.

Cue supportive-boyfriend Phil, amateur-therapist Dan, and a healthy dose of luck (+ bonus smut).

Teach Me to Fly (ao3) - thesleepdeprived

Summary: Soulmates!AU, Wings!AU. People had always told him that wings were the solution to everything, the key to your love life, your friend circle, who you are as a person, even. Yet somehow, Phil just can’t bring himself to see it that way. Who would want a soulmate that would never fly? (or, as my planning outline so eloquently puts it, kiss kiss fall in love you emotionally repressed motherfuckers) COMPLETE

These Violent Delights Of Love (ao3) - cyanica

Summary: Dan is hopelessly in love, Phil’s seemingly oblivious and they’re on a world tour just to make things more chaotic.

And yet, the Gods, or the Ruler of the Universe, or whoever the hell was in charge decided Dan needed to die in the end, too. Currently, leaning over the porcelain throne of shit and piss was the Gods’ human voodoo doll, throwing up the contents of his unfortunate Indian dinner – and significantly more alarming than that: black tulips. Fucking flowers. This wasn’t real life.

waiting to be found (ao3) - dizzy

Summary: Dan and Phil meet at a club.

(And then a coffee shop.)

Who’s Taking You Home Tonight? (ao3) - whatkindoffanfics (orphan_account)

Summary: October, 1944. While World War II rages on, Dan Howell finds himself thrown into the secretive world of Bletchley Park, a headquarters for intercepting and breaking the codes of encrypted German messages.

[historia-vitae-magistras]

How did Francis and Arthur get their children? 🤔

The same way practically every bisexual millennial I know did. Accidentally knocking up a partner in their 20s and having a lot of court mandated therapy 😂.

Arthur was born in Liverpool and entered the foster system from around the age of ten with his mother's death. Grew up in the very dystopian Thatcher years until he taught himself posh English and got into the navy, then shady maritime shipping. He was about 28 when he was posted to Boston in 2004. He met Olivia Jones who's an RN with a background and specialty in social healthcare originally from Nantucket with a mixed European and Afro-indigenous (Mashpea, Aquinnah and Nantucket Wompanoag) heritage and she isn't much interested in sharing her baby boy with the random limey she had a one night stand with. She named him Alfred after her own grandfather and kind of a vague idea of Englishness because she always meant to contact Arthur eventually but never did. So she doesn't really tell him until Alfred is six and he's kind of a sickly kid with pretty severe asthma, ADHD and a brush with leukemia. She tracks Arthur down to get his medical history and see if he's a marrow match. He's been with Francis for about a year, is starting to consider Matt his own kiddo and now suddenly he's got two. And one's his. And this is an Arthur who grew up rough, working class and low-key has a massive mental breakdown because he had a kid he wasn't taking care of. He never met his own father. Liv really doesn't want much to do with him but they've got Alfred together and Arthur's making pretty good money so he's happy to do whatever he wants as long as he can see his kid and be a dad in literally any capacity she'll allow. She really doesn't trust him but they work it out eventually considering they're basically strangers. Eventually Francis and Arthur agreed to live around Boston for a few years because Olivia isn't keen to ship her only son to a foreign country until she really warms up to the whole situation.

Francis is doing a master's degree in art history part time while slowly taking over his ancestral bakery. His mother was a French literature teacher and his father was the baker. And he met Matt's bio mom, Theresa, in 2008 during the recession. She was a microbiology university drop out living on a trust fund and travelling wherever nature took her. François' was very into leftist, artistic scene at the time, a little Bohemian and they shacked up one summer having steamy tantric sex in a family cabin for months and accidentally having Matt who's about six weeks old when she takes off, suddenly realizing what parenthood means and François just keeps his kid and never contacts her family. He's slightly terrified that a court outside of Quebec will take his only child so he keeps Matt close and is determined to make a properly québécois lad out of him. Theresa died climbing K2 in 2012 and Francis is neurotic about Matt's love of nature for the rest of his life, always slightly terrified he'll do something and die like that. He met Arthur in 2010 when Matt was about two going on three and they married in 2012, Arthur formally adopting Matt and making everything legally sound.

[pettyrevenge-base]

I was a bullied kid and now feels kind of good to see the people who made my HS years hell have a bad life.

Well, not sure if this will be removed because I actually didn’t take any action on their apparent bad luck today or because this just sounds like me being an ah but couldn’t think of anywhere else to post.

I was made fun of because my teeth not being straight, because of my big nose, because someone saw my drunk dad around on weekends and that was joke, because teachers liked me, because I lived really far from school, because I didn’t have money to buy much during lunch or because if my shoes or backpack were still fine I would use them the next school year as well because we were broke. You name it, I had it. Even some people I thought I was being friends with would eventually join whoever was the coolest kid around in making me feel like shit. And I know we were kids, this doesn’t mean these people are bad persons still today, I don’t know them, but I was a kid too and I wasn’t a fucking bully.

I was always the youngest of my class because my country allows people to skip grades so I graduated HS at 14.

Ff I am 26 now. I live in a small city and work for a manufacturing company who is the biggest employer of the region, so naturally people I know end up working there since there’s a lot of people. I was recently promoted and now make like 7 times the average salary of my country, own a decent car that’s paid in full, about to graduate from my masters, am saving to buy a house, have good friends, go on weekend getaways a couple times a year and am a happy person.

The other day at work a new operator (she was in training, so new employee) stopped me to say hi and was one of the people who hurt me, the one thing I remember she used to say was “poor Esther, let’s all raise funds so we can get her teeth fixed”. I remember her thing was saying “poor Esther” in a condescending way and laugh (not my real name xd). She also a couple times stole my backpack and hid it ( in a bathroom trashcan ). There’s something so insulting on people saying “poor you” because of something you don’t even consider a relevant problem in the moment and it’s a problem only because they made it like that about my teeth.

She’s pregnant, her third pregnancy. Started college for a humanities degree that she didn’t complete, is single mom of two other kids and has jumped from manufacturing company to manufacturing company after she left college. This is minimum wage in my country that’s like 400 USD monthly.

I have met other people from HS over the years and same case, one of them even went to jail for hitting his wife and kid. I am having a great life and it’s not based on other people having a bad one, and this perhaps makes me a bad person and I know I can fall too or make bad decisions and idk maybe in her mind this girl is super happy with her life and bunch of kids and salary, idk.

But I know if my decisions ever make me pull the short stick, I won’t have people pleased with my bad luck as I am with theirs because I am not a fucking bully and I don’t damage people intentionally for fun as these assholes did.

Guess the conclusion here is, bad years don’t last forever. HS is just a phase and being the Queen B in HS doesn’t mean a successful life. Driving to HS in a cute car or having much money for lunch or being “successful” in HS doesn’t mean that’s for life. Just as being the rug everyone steps on doesn’t mean you’re going to be it forever.

Source: reddit.com/r/pettyrevenge

[transfloridaresources]

[Video ID: An Afro-Latina trans woman, Angelique Godwin, stands at a podium in front of a supportive crowd behind her. The podium has a sign on it that reads 'Equality Florida. Censorship (crossed out) Freedom!' /End ID]

Video transcript:

Let me just start by saying, hi everyone. My name is Angelique Godwin and I am a Afro-Latina trans woman (crowd cheers) not only living in Florida but leading the way for my people and my community - and not just the trans community, but every single letter in the LGBTQIA+ community.

I will not be feared out of the state (crowd member shouts 'talk about it!'). You will not make laws to remove me or my dreams because I was raised in an America that believes that freedom will ring (crowd cheers) and freedom is mine to ring. It's mine to achieve.

I was raised underneath the belief that I can be anything and anyone I choose to be, if I follow my dreams (crowd cheers). And so, when I set out as a young person raised by a 9/11 First Responder, police detective in the Bronx of New York and a teacher who worked for the Board of Education in the Bronx, New York, I was raised to believe that I truly could be anything I put my mind to (crowd cheers). And as I grew up in this state, I went to school that I paid for and I'm still paying for - (crowd laughs) to get degrees. Not one, not two, but three certifications (crowd cheers). I am an example of what happens when you have parents and people and community that believe in you. I am a Masters of Psychology earned person, educated, going for my doctorate this year (crowd cheers). I am unstoppable.

You made laws and you made bills that said that, oh, she can't get her medication. And, yeah, I lost all of my help. I lost my doctors. I lost my, my, my access to my medication. But because my community is not weak, because we don't back down, I got it all back (crowd cheers). And I went and bought my own health insurance, because y'all can't even seem to provide none for none of us. So I got health insurance that backs me in the state of Florida. That supports me.

When you guys put laws about education, I start programs. I teach for a living. You can take the books off the shelves, but you can't take the memories out of my mind (crowd cheers). You can erase me from your history books, but, baby, I still exist. I'm here and now I'm on television, baby, you can't get rid of me (crowd laughs and cheers). I'm forever. And soon enough I'll be like Cher. I'll be immortalized. You can't stop me. I'll speak at every single turn.

You made it so that now I have to stand up and fight. You attacked a group that has no ill will towards you and now we have to stand up and fight. So we're gonna fight. We're going to continue to show up. I told you last year, this wasn't the last you seen of me. Hello (crowd laughs and cheers). Last year, I was a volunteer. Now I am the TransAction Special Events Coordinator for Equality Florida. Keep making these laws and these bills and you'll see me in your Senate seats next (crowd cheers). And that is not a threat, that's a promise.

So be sure who you attack because you haven't quelled anything. You haven't stopped us, you've ignited the fire. You've become gasoline. And, baby, we are going to burn like the books and the bras of the past. We will stand on things. I'm going to sit on these subjects like Rosa Parks sat on the bus. Because my dreams will come true, like Dr. Martin Luther King, and I will continue to walk the road, like Ruby Bridges alone, and you can throw your words but they will never break me. You can throw your bricks but they can never hurt me. I will stand and exist for those who cannot. For all of my brothers and sisters and theys and thems who left and can't stay here, I will always be here. And even when you stop doing what you're doing, I will continue to move forward because that is what I do. And now you have met just one, and I'm going to inspire generations, because I already have. Look at the room, read the room, baby (crowd cheers).

And I am, just so you know, and your parents will know, and your children's children will know, I am one of the people who brought all of those drag queens to this rotunda (crowd cheers). And I was here last year with all of those children who came when you came for their rights. It will never stop. It will continue. We will not let these rooms be empty. Even when you plan your sessions around it and try to get them done without us (has mild vocal trouble and grimaces slightly)- without us, sorry - I will show up. I will be here. I look forward to seeing you all throughout the rest of the sessions. Get used to it because I'm pretty and I look good all the time (crowd cheers). My development as a trans woman has been amazing, and I promise you, my body is real, my face is mine, baby. The makeup game, I've been slaying it for 19 years. I'm older than I look but my skin looks better than yours because I know how to take care of it. If you want help, call me (crowd cheers).

I'm mad. I'm done. I'm done playing safe with you guys. I'm done being that person that you think you can walk over. My community, we are not going to be the backs on which you stand on. We're not that community anymore - slavery is over. We won't live in closets anymore. Closets are done. They're removed. It's open spaces.

This is a world where we're supposed to be free. You call yourself a free state, but you take away freedoms and rights. No more. We stand here. We are not going anywhere. So get comfortable, because we are. And we're here (crowd cheers). Thank you. Source

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Another fellow English major here...so straight out of college, I worked as a legal secretary for about a year. It was a high-powered large corporate legal firm and it was interesting. So I started studying to take the LSAT. I was also contemplating going in the Peace Corps. One of the lawyers I worked for was from North Carolina, and he said, "Why don't you go volunteer in Appalachia? There's poor people right here in this country." I looked into it and several months later I was off to volunteer in Appalachia, where I stayed three years (one year as a full-time volunteer and two years as a paid employee). I was a GED teacher there for adults. Then I became burned out and needed to move on. A friend in Florida suggested I move there since she had a friend who needed a roommate. Off I went to Florida. I did temp work when I got there as a secretary. I got a job six weeks later in social services as a case manager. I did that for three years and then I decided I wanted to move up in the social services field, but in order to do that, I needed to get a master's degree. So I went back to school and got a master's in counseling. I then took the steps to be a licensed therapist. I was promoted at several jobs to supervisor. Then about six years ago, I started working at a health insurance company in the behavioral health department. I work from home and love my job. All of this to say, there are a lot of options out there for us English majors. Along the way, I had some experiences and met some people who guided me to paths I might not otherwise have taken. Good luck to you! You'll find your way. (Oh, I have a friend who was also an English major, then she got her master's in creative writing, and is now a supervisor at a publishing company.)

Another English major!

A lot of the anons who are writing in about their postgrad lives have the same thing in common: a lot of us go where the wind blows us, making job/career changes based on suggestions and referrals from friends and people we trust.

[irismitchells]

✦ HAVANA ROSE LIU, CIS WOMAN, SHE/HER ✦ IRIS MITCHELL the TWENTY-SIX year old has been in willow’s edge for TWENTY YEARS ON AND OFF and was a FRIEND to JUNE, from the deceased family. whispers on the streets are that the WAITRESS AT SUNRISE DINER who lives in WINSLOW are said to be INQUISITIVE and SELF-ABSORBED but i guess we’ll find out for ourselves.

PINTEREST | PLAYLIST

full name — Iris Hui Mitchell nickname(s) — Her family calls her Mo for a reason she shall never divulge xx age — 26 date of birth — June 20th place of birth — Charleston, SC education level & job — Currently enrolled in a Speech Language Pathology graduate program with only a semester left. She completed a Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders and worked as a Child Life Specialist in the Charleston school district for 3 years. After returning to Willow's Edge a year and a half ago, she became a waitress at the local greasy spoon to help support herself through grad school. residence — Winslow (with two roommates... wanted connections incoming) family — Her father Ricky Mitchell is a local car salesman, and her mother Lisa Mitchell (nee Yue) is a reading teacher at the elementary school. Iris also has an older sister, Scarlett, who is an Occupational Therapist in a nearby town.

overview. 

Always hovering somewhere between blue-collar and middle-class, The Mitchell family has always prided themselves on self-sufficiency, independence, and a strong sense of community. They're townies through and through.

Ricky Mitchell is known for dressing up for every major holiday (Santa at Christmas, a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day, etc.) and holding court at Smokey's. He's a bit of a Character. Lisa, by contrast, is a bit of an introverted neurotic — she most often ventures out into town to participate behind the scenes of town events. Each of their daughters was brought up with a strong proclivity for Getting Shit Done and lowkey.... loving attention and control.💗

Both Iris and Scarlett attended Willow's Edge public schools through 6th grade before they finished their junior and high school experience at a Catholic school a few towns over, so while her parents continued to be deeply entrenched in Willow's Edge society, Iris and Scarlett fell a tiny bit to the wayside as they got older.

The Mitchell family are devout Catholics in name only. The type of people who primarily attend church on major holidays and when it was any run-of-the-mill Sunday Mass, they attended for social reasons. Keep up with town gossip, trade popovers, and sip on sweet tea down in the church basement. As an adult, Iris only goes for Midnight Mass. Lapsed Catholic vibe.

But it was a boy at church that Iris fell in love with when she was 15. Sitting around in the pews during one of their Confirmation classes, each whispered joke Mason Goodwin told about Monsignor Martinez was met with nervous giggles and flushed cheeks from Iris.

They didn't start dating until they were 17 and he was her first, and still only, boyfriend. The relationship lasted for 8 years. They didn't talk about things like marriage or kids or a very defined future until that future snuck up on them. Mason's degree took him west, and he ultimately decided for the both of them that she wouldn't come with. Devastated, Iris returned to Willow's Edge.

Since her return, and nursing a broken heart, Iris took a job at Sunrise Diner. She was one of the very few people willing to wake up at the crack of dawn for the early breakfast shift, after all. Finishing up her Master's, and trying not to still think about Mason, Iris found a lot of comfort in her friendships -- and that included the one with June.

They weren't super close before Iris left for college, but they'd grown increasingly fond of each other as the months passed. June's friendship was one of the things that helped pull Iris out of her breakup blues. In turn, a kind, sweet-tongued comfort when Iris was sad and then a fun-seeking partner on the weekends when Iris needed a distraction. She was a good friend to Iris.

Which made some things difficult... Iris is bad at secrets. She loves to learn them, of course, but she isn't so good at keeping them. She doesn't run her mouth around town, but it's almost always certain that if one friend tells her something semi-secret then Iris is passing that info on to one other friend. She can't help it. And when the secret is her own, it's somehow worse. Her compulsion tells her to come clean immediately or to whisper it into several friends' ears. But her most recent secret was a little more complicated...

Iris kissed June's boyfriend Caleb. And June died before Iris could tell her.

personality.

Iris is a princess of sometimes saying out-of-pocket shit and staring at slight blemishes on your face until you're like, WHAT skjdfns. And, with her background in speech, she often analyzes your speech in her head too. Sometimes outside of her head too.

She's a bit shameless with the people she's close with, a fan of meeting and getting to know new ones, and... on a heavy dose of anxiety meds! She talks a lot because 1) she likes conversation and 2) it's half-compensation for said aforementioned anxiety.

When your anxiety manifests as a desire to be liked and friends with everyone which then reveals a real sense of self-absorption and, every once in a while, leads to weird drama... love it!

positive: organized, passionate, charismatic, loyal, curious, expressive, social

negative: condescending, impulsive, gossipy (can't keep a secret), scattered, fidgety, approval-seeking, overly sensitive

misc headcanons.

Quick list: ❤️'s weed, cooking, surfing, hiking + camping, sharing facts and feeling a little more well-informed (Wikipedia page memorizer), talking through movies, weekend trips, skinny dipping, hanging out with old people, doing Randy Newman impressions, waking up early, showing the people she loves new things, sharing experiences, watching reality tv a la Sister Wives, etc.

Oh -- and she's a Swiftie.

[stargazer-sims]

Meet the Seong family ♥

Say hello to the Seong family!

George Min-Joon Seong is the proud dad. He's a language nerd, self-proclaimed foodie, and professor of British history. He is a naturalized Canadian, but he's also spent a significant amount of time in the UK, which is where he met the love of his life, In-Hae, who was there studying English. When he immigrated to Canada, he decided to choose a new name, and he picked "George", which his kids think is the most stereotypically English name of all time

Evelyn In-Hae Seong, a.k.a. Evie, is the patient and good-humoured mom. Like her husband, she decided to give herself a new name after immigrating to Canada, and after all these years, she's still happy with her choice. Evie is a high school special education teacher. When she's not busy with her job, she loves to cook and bake, and she enjoys music and dancing.

Sadie Hae-Won Seong is the oldest of the three Seong children. She's currently pursuing a Master's degree in education and hopes to become a teacher like her parents, although she hasn't decided which age group she might be best at teaching. Sadie loves body art, fashion, music and dance. She likes to dance with her brother Eden, as she says he's the only one in the family who can keep up with her.

Charles Ki-Yeon Seong (a.k.a. Charlie) and Eden Yeon-Jin Seong are fraternal twins. Charlie is the older twin by about eleven minutes, technically making him the middle child. That, of course, makes Eden the baby of the family. Charlie is a professional stylist, and has just landed his dream job as a member of the stylist team for the J-pop group Sugar Valentine. Eden is a competitive figure skater, and his current goal is to make it to the Olympics. Eden has also done some modelling. In his spare time, Charlie enjoys photography, drawing, playing video games, and cooking. When Eden isn't at the rink, he can often be found at a local dance studio, as dancing is his other passion. He also likes to cook, although he's not as good at it as his brother, and he likes playing video games, watching movies and listening to music.

______

The Seong family portrait went about as well as you'd expect:

Sadie: Can I get new brothers?

Eden: Okay, we're being nice now.

Charlie: Yeah, we're on our best behaviour.

Sadie: *playfully mocking* Aww... so precious!

Evie is trying her best not to laugh at the antics of her children. Sadie is twenty-four and the twins are twenty-two, but sometimes Evie wonders if they've really left their childhoods behind them at all, especially when all three of them are together.

Eventually, everyone settled down and they got the perfect shot. ♥

[jackiestarsister]

OUAT Rewatch: Season 6

Overall thoughts: This season finally feels like a return to the style and tone of the first two seasons, with the present-day action taking place in Storybrooke, and multiple storylines with multiple antagonists playing out. Those are the seasons I like best!

Episode 6x01 “The Savior”

~ The teaser sets up the conflict for the whole season: can a Savior get a happy ending?

~ “There’s nothing more dangerous than an untold story, and the people who don’t want them told.” What a great line!

~ Where did all of Zelena’s baby supplies come from? Did Robin Hood own any?

~ Regina and Zelena are so endearingly awkward interacting as new housemates!

~ The camera freezes on a cross-shaped headstone when Regina says “Heroism comes first”! Was that an intentional symbol?

~ “When it comes to fixing our biggest problems, there are no shortcuts.”

~ When characters visit the asylum/prison part of the hospital, it usually feels like an homage to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Emma’s visit to Hyde is the first time it feels like an homage to Silence of the Lambs!

~ Rumple/Gold has already faced the challenge of making Belle fall in love with him again, back in Season 2 when she lost her memory. Having him do so again in the dream world feels unnecessary.

~ The Oracle basically quotes Yoda from The Empire Strikes Back! I’m surprised Emma doesn’t call this out.

~ It’s amazing to see Regina acknowledge that she was a horrible stepmother to Snow, and for Snow to realize that Regina was the one who made her learn about hope!

~ Regina’s monologue and the montage at the end are soooo lovely! I much prefer her new attitude, that one’s life is made up of many stories, over her Season 4 obsession with an Author controlling her life.

~ When Belle passes by the pawnshop, the camera looks out over a candelabra like Lumiere!

Episode 6x02 “A Bitter Draught”

~ The Count of Monte Cristo seems like the kind of story that should be in a Hook-focused episode, since it deals so much with revenge and piracy.

~ I love Hook and Belle’s scene, his apology for trying to kill her in the past, and his acknowledgement that he still has work to do in the area of forgiving himself. That baggage did not go away when he decided to return from the Underworld. And Hook’s music motif sounds so sad and pensive during that scene!

~ Regina swordfighting … is not something I ever expected to see, but okay, cool.

~ Why the heck does Rumplestiltskin suddenly act like he wants Regina? They might be past the teacher-student phase of their relationship, but it’s still incredibly uncomfortable!

Episode 6x03 “The Other Shoe”

~ Looks like Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter is now in Storybrooke! I guess it would make sense for her to have sought refuge in the Land of Untold Stories.

~ Emma watching Hook interact with Alexandra is soooo sweet!

~ I like that this episode revisits the backstory of a character who had a one-off episode so early in the show.

~ It seems strange for Ella to say “There’s no such thing as magic.” Did she not live in the Enchanted Forest, or at least a neighboring kingdom?

~ Dopey getting his master’s degree! And Grumpy/Leroy’s attitude toward Emma!

~ It might have been better setup to show Ashley’s reaction to seeing Lorinda’s name on the list of newcomers.

~ Mary Margaret was already shown returning to her teaching job in the middle of Season 4, presumably after she took some maternity leave. Her time away in Camelot and the Underworld only amounted to a couple months, at most. Why is her return to teaching such a big deal now?

~ Hook and Henry practicing swordfighting is great, and shows that Hook has now joined Henry’s father and maternal grandfather in the role of mentoring him!

~ They brought back Gus/Billy! It’s nice to see Ella having a friend with her in her home and at the ball.

~ I like that they show how Ella and Snow met! That helps explain how they recognize each other at Ella and Thomas’ engagement/wedding ball.

~ It almost seems odd that OUAT hasn’t depicted the Cinderella ball before, earlier in its run.

~ Cutting from the glass slipper to the glass chess set—both possessions/gifts of Rumplestiltskin—is great!

~ David’s desperation seems a bit out of nowhere after he appeared so optimistic in his scene with Mary Margaret.

~ Hook really let Belle settle in and put her own mark on her cabin, which was previously his own!

~ Looks like Snow was as responsible for Ella’s happy ending as Emma was for Ashley’s!

~ Dr. Jekyll meeting Dr. Frankenstein is hilarious! As is the fact that Snow thinks getting them to teach is “part of getting this town back to normal”!

~ Snow and David’s final scene is so sweet, and their conversation about Neal is full of truth! Childrearing may not be “epic,” but it really is the most important work.

~ They really contrived a way to get Robert Carlyle to read poetry in his full Scottish accent!

~ How can the Evil Queen simply free Hyde? Did Regina not take any precautions against this after finding out she had visited him?

~ I like the theme of this episode, about seeking happiness even when the future is not a guarantee, and the fact that the storyline ends in reconciliation for Ella and her sister and their respective loves.

Episode 6x04 “Strange Case”

~ In situations where you feel powerless, cutting your hair can feel like a way of reclaiming control. So, it makes sense for Gold to take that action, even if it seems random.

~ Interesting to see Gold fixing a watch, and his shop full of clocks, considering the show’s name and theme!

~ Rumplestiltskin basically plays the same role in Jekyll’s story as he did in Frankenstein’s.

~ Gold sinks to new levels of abuse in this episode, imprisoning Belle in the name of protecting her.

~ It’s pretty significant that Gold is comfortable with Belle being with Hook on his ship, considering their history with Milah.

~ Leroy and David have a great, supportive little exchange.

~ Grumpy/Leroy has never articulated the dwarves’ job(s) as “protectors” before. I thought he was going to say that what they do best is work—they seem to gravitate toward physical labor, whether in the mines or in the magic bean fields.

~ “It’s the queen!” Nice little callback to the pilot episode!

~ It looks like Snow is now teaching middle or high school level, whereas during the curse she was teaching elementary school.

~ Now I’m wondering whether Storybrooke’s schools bother with actual certification or accreditation. Does Snow really know how to teach?

~ What is with Belle’s outfit? It looks like a nightgown, or hospital gown, or something for the beach or a maternity shoot.

~ Interesting that Hook is the one to save Belle, and Gold sees it!

~ The fact that Gold’s attempt to protect Belle ended up putting her in danger is so emblematic of their now-toxic relationship.

~ Considering how they set up the new arc with Regina and the Evil Queen, I wasn’t expecting Jekyll and Hyde’s story to end so quickly!

~ I like the framing of Regina and Emma’s profiles against the ocean.

~ David’s angst and mixed feelings about Hook and Emma’s relationship aren’t really resolved by the end of the episode.

~ I knew Shireen was Jasmine!

~ The credits list Tom Sawyer as a character! Where was he?

Episode 6x05 “Street Rats”

~ What is with the use of captions for time and location? They were hardly ever used before the previous season.

~ Aladdin’s accent sounds like that of someone from the lower class in some part of England.

~ I like Jasmine’s clothes very much, but she’s wearing way too much jewelry for someone in disguise or on a mission in the desert.

~ What did the Evil Queen mean about her and Archie being a good team? The fact that she forced him to do unethical things during the curse?

~ Jasmine and Aladdin’s argument scene is great! And he does the apple trick like in the movie!

~ The Evil Queen is like Satan, or Eris, sowing discord among Emma’s family, and either creating or exposing a lack of trust.

~ The heroes should remember that A) people have kidnapped and impersonated Archie before, and B) he would never betray a patient’s confidentiality.

~ They pay homage to two movies with a single prop!

~ Why would any villain with half a brain discuss their plans and motives in a public place, with other people right in front of them?

~ On the other hand, it’s interesting to see Zelena and any version of Regina talk about their children.

~ Why don’t the heroes rush to find Archie after realizing he’s missing?

~ Regina being the one to comfort someone who’s grieving is new!

~ There isn’t nearly enough spotlight on Hook in this episode, as he learns that Emma’s life may end because of her role as the Savior. But that shot of him looking back at her before leaving her in the crypt is beautiful and speaks volumes!

~ Emma and Henry’s scene is wonderful, and her turnaround makes sense. She wouldn’t change her attitude after hearing a “hope speech” from her parents, but she would do so in order to comfort and encourage her son.

~ Hook manages to turn a banal question like “Pizza or Chinese” into a profound moment: “Your heart’s desire, Swan. That’s all I want.”

~ I had thought that Hook was past keeping secrets, especially from Emma; but it makes sense that he would keep one with the intention of having a way to help/save Emma.

Episode 6x06 “Dark Waters”

~ I spent the whole episode confused about when the flashbacks take place. The opening caption says “At the time of the Dark Curse,” but Hook was frozen in time with Cora for the 28 years of the first Dark Curse being in effect. Did Hook leave Cora at some point(s) and resume traveling on the Jolly Roger after time started moving again, before Emma and Snow arrived in the Enchanted Forest? That’s the only explanation that would make sense of Liam II aging yet Hook still being on his quest for vengeance.

~ Hook wants so earnestly to be a good parental figure to Henry, making him a healthy breakfast and offering to play video games with him!

~ Henry is still ambivalent about Hook: one moment Henry sounds defensive against Hook, probably because he is still attached to his father; the next moment, he’s defensive of Hook when the Evil Queen taunts him.

~ If Belle is one trimester through her pregnancy, that suggests that the baby was conceived during her honeymoon in Season 4, not during her brief reconciliation with Gold in Season 5.

~ It’s interesting that Liam II followed in his brothers’ footsteps with a career at sea, only in an entirely different way.

~ Hook and Henry’s interactions and bonding are so good!

~ I’m glad that Liam II and Nemo reunited, but I wish there had been a little more time given for Liam’s reconciliation with Hook. A lifetime of suffering would not be forgiven that quickly.

~ Of course Emma would have done the same; she practically did the same with Excalibur!

~ Gold is quite bold to refer to Henry as Hook’s son in front of the Evil Queen!

Episode 6x07 “Heartless”

~ The fact that the Evil Queen can just waltz into the Charmings’ apartment and magic one of them away …

~ How did Snow meet the Blue Fairy prior to knowing the dwarves? And how did Snow not realize that the one she thought she met as a child was really an impostor, Cora? In Season 1 it is implied that the fairies joined Snow White’s fight because Blue owed Grumpy a favor after he let go of Nova.

~ The Blue Fairy throwing axes!?

~ Wilby and Longbourne sound like nods to Jane Austen!

~ The Evil Queen quoting that Dylan Thomas poem is unexpected but fitting!

~ It is a bit odd to see Hook be the one to give a pep talk/hope speech, but he makes a good point about Emma’s relationship to her parents. The time travel adventure gave her a unique role in bringing her parents together. In a way, she is as responsible for their relationship as it is responsible for her existence.

~ I tend not to like when the writers have characters meet only to forget about it later; but in this case it feels forgivable because they do figure out that it was each other!

~ Why would Gabriel leave Snow unattended in the prison wagon?

~ Belle makes a good point about the difference between being “pure evil” and being too weak to be good.

~ The Evil Queen really reconstructed the glass coffin just so Snow and David could play out that scene?

Episode 6x08 “I’ll Be Your Mirror”

~ It’s amazing to see Regina upset about Snow and David’s sleeping curse, when she was the one who originally put Snow under one!

~ That split-screen montage is so bittersweet, and unusually artistic cinematography for this show!

~ I wish we got to see Hook helping Henry figure out what to wear to the dance! That glimpse of Hook holding up a tie for him is such a tease.

~ The Evil Queen tying a tie around Henry’s neck while deceiving him is so symbolic!

~ When did Belle meet Jasmine and Aladdin?

~ How can Gold quote Cora saying “Love is weakness”? I thought his character couldn’t regress any more, but I was wrong.

~ Is the Dragon’s daughter Mulan?!

~ The Evil Queen really seems to have forgotten how Cora ruined her life, if she is now trying to shape Henry into a king.

~ Even though it’s part of a sinister, almost seductive conversation, I like that they finally addressed the fact that Henry is a prince, and that being royalty is about more than just birth.

~ It’s nice to see an episode focused on Henry, and on his relationship with his mothers! Their maternal love triangle was the main source of conflict in the first two seasons, and it’s wonderful to both revisit his childhood with Regina and see how much they have all grown. Emma and Regina talk about Henry like the coparents they have become.

~ Where was Hook this whole time? Did the Evil Queen knock him out only temporarily, so he was able to arrive just in time to restrain her?

~ Was Sidney once Aladdin’s genie?!

Episode 6x09 “Changelings”

~ From the beginning, the show has always played with the fact that Rumplestiltskin takes children through unfair deals, but never explained why. Is this episode supposed to answer that question?

~ Rumplestiltskin has a tapestry of the Visitation in his castle! How appropriate, since it’s a story about two pregnant women!

~ The Evil Queen finally has an outfit that I like! She looks more like a warrior now!

~ I never realized until now that a genie’s tie to his lamp, which enslaves him while giving him his power, is just like the Dark One’s tie to the dagger!

~ As can be the case in real life, the thing that keeps Gold from being loved and forgiven is the fact that he believes he can’t be loved or forgiven.

~ This must be the first time Emma actually assists a mother in labor and delivery! It’s beautiful to see, though a little odd to think that Emma’s own childbirth experience was with the newborn’s nephew.

~ Who knew it was possible to simultaneously feel so much hatred and sympathy for a character?

~ So is Belle still living on the Jolly Roger? Or do the fairies let her stay in the convent to recover from the birth?

Episode 6x10 “Wish You Were Here”

~ Regina really should have thought of a better version of her wish! For instance, instead of sending just herself, she could have sent Henry or someone else Emma and the others would have trusted.

~ How can Regina be so certain that the reality she is in is not real? How does she know the doppelgangers aren’t connected to their counterparts in Storybrooke?

~ It was way too easy for David to get hold of the lamp! And the Evil Queen could have just magicked it into her hand.

~ “We’ve been portalled!”

~ Princess Emma’s characterization really doesn’t make sense, even for an alternate reality. If her parents were brave heroes, and she was raising her son to be a knight, she would at least try to follow and set good examples of heroism. Surrendering the key to the kingdom in front of her parents makes no sense; they would have taught her the value of sacrifice and the importance of fighting for their people.

~ If the Dark Curse was not cast, how in all the realms did Emma meet Baelfire/Neal and have Henry with him at such a young age?

Episode 6x11 “Tougher Than the Rest”

~ They did a great job of casting a teenage August! He both looks and sounds like him.

~ Nottingham does the same thing as Gabriel, leaving the prisoners in transit just so they have an opportunity to escape.

~ Regina doesn't mention to Robin the fact that his other version had a son. That makes a huge difference in his identity!

~ Didn’t Emma and Regina learn from their experience with Marian/Zelena that you shouldn’t bring people across time and realities in order to save them?

~ Lana Parilla’s acting in a single shot, when she goes from grieving Robin to rejoicing at his arrival, is great!

~ How is it so easy for Emma to knock Gideon back with her magic and destroy the sword?

~ It looks like there is a carving of a swan on the shelf in Marco and August’s garage!

Episode 6x12 “Murder Most Foul”

~ This is one of the biggest episodes about David and his family, but also manages to move forward plot and character development for Hook and his relationship with Emma.

~ As twins, David and James probably both had trauma from being separated from each other as infants.

~ Emma is still wearing the same clothes she wore when Gideon was born!

~ I wonder how long Hook thought about proposing to Emma, how long he had that ring, and what made him decide to take that step at that point. I’m guessing her defeat of Gideon was a big part of it, as he had been afraid that she would die.

~ Did Hook actually buy the ring, as Archie assumes? How could he afford it? Does he have any savings or income at this point?

~ Regina has a piano in her home! Does she play, or Henry?

~ Why couldn’t Regina heal Robin’s slight wound?

~ What David asks Hook to do really is awful: betray the trust of the woman he loves in order to make a good impression with her father and maintain the friendship they have.

~ Is that the Golden Fleece in Rumplestiltskin’s castle?

~ So Pinocchio existed when David was only six years old?! But he was still a little boy when Emma was born. Does that mean he lived as a wooden puppet for a couple decades before he became real?

~ David handcuffs Hook just like Emma has on so many occasions! Pretty crummy way to treat the guy who just did so much to help him.

~ David never addresses the fact that he sent his brother into the River of Lost Souls, which is supposed to be even worse than death.

~ Why would David challenge George (or anyone) to a duel with knives rather than swords?

~ David’s monologue is fantastic, and some of the best acting we’ve seen from Josh Dallas in this show!

~ For Hook, of all people, to talk someone down from exacting revenge is amazing!

~ David is terrified by the idea that even his best effort might not be good enough. David’s fear is actually one that he shares with Emma and Hook: that he won’t be enough to protect the people he loves.

~ The big question is, why does Robert’s ghost appear to David at that time? And why didn’t David find him, or at least his tombstone, in the Underworld? It’s as ambiguous as Hamlet’s father’s ghost in the play from which this episode seems to draw its inspiration.

~ The blessing scene is so excellent! The only weird thing is David calling Hook old-fashioned, when in the past Hook called David old-fashioned about his expectations for Emma’s relationships.

~ It seems like a stretch for Hook to recognize someone he killed on a dark rainy night decades earlier. It might have been easier to believe that he could recognize a trinket like the lucky coin; but he does not recognize it the whole time he and David are handling it.

~ I would have expected the episode to end with Hook looking at the pages, but having it end with him closing the engagement ring box is even more ominous!

Episode 6x13 “Ill-Boding Patterns”

~ It’s cool to see Beowulf appear in OUAT!

~ It’s so strange to see Gold discourage someone from giving in to their inner darkness. He practically drove Cora, Regina, and Zelena into it, and a vision of him urged Emma to embrace her magic as the Dark One.

~ Since when does Regina wear hats that match her outfits? Is she picking up aspects of Zelena’s style?

~ Regina being willing to let Robin go in order to find his happiness is huge character development from the woman who enslaved Graham and tried to kidnap Owen for the sake of her own happiness.

~ I can’t believe they gave Baelfire a storyline about “going dark”! I don’t like it when they use memory-altering magic to create a storyline only to erase a character’s arc; but it says a lot about Rumple that he was willing to let Baelfire blame him rather than himself.

~ It feels odd for Emma to be absent for most of an episode, only appearing in one scene where she is ignorant of the full truth of the situation.

~ Even when split from Regina, the Evil Queen is proud of her town!

Episode 6x14 “Page 23”

~ I bet Henry asked for details about Hook’s proposal because he wants to get ideas for his own in the future!

~ I’m glad to see Nemo still acting as a friend and mentor to Hook, but their scene basically plays out the same way as Hook’s scene with Archie in the previous episode.

~ Why does Henry Senior ask “what are you doing” when Regina hardly moved?

~ The scene with Emma and Hook was inevitable, but I’m surprised it took place in the middle of the episode rather than at the end. Why did Emma come home at that point, after learning that Regina was going to face the Evil Queen? Was she coming to get Hook so he could be part of the action?

~ I like how the conflict between Emma and Hook is more complicated than just her being mad about what he did to her grandfather. She’s upset about the fact that he kept it a secret, not necessarily because it was dishonest, but because it shows his doubt about the strength of their relationship.

~ “Destinations never matter” is a pretty strong absolute statement, and contradicts Nemo's previous goal to find a permanent home.

~ I knew the arrow was going to lead Regina to face herself! But why did it not lead to her magic mirror? That would have been a fantastic tie-in with the themes and symbols of the original Snow White story.

~ Regina literally fighting herself, and then embracing herself, is amazing!!!

~ I LOVE Snow and Hook’s scene! They hardly ever interact with each other, and I don’t think they’ve ever had a scene with just the two of them. It makes sense that she would be the one to renew his hope that he can be forgiven and deserving of love.

~ It feels odd for Nemo to appear, and even mention Liam, without Liam himself showing up, when Hook is wrestling with so much guilt about his past. Liam would have stirred up all kinds of feelings about guilt and atonement.

Episode 6x15 “A Wondrous Place”

~ Wouldn’t “Let’s go fishing” be more fitting than “Let’s go hunting”? Or is kraken not a fish?

~ Hook almost acts parental with Jasmine and Aladdin, telling them to “Get on board before you get yourselves killed” and encouraging her to face her fear.

~ I would expect Henry to do more than sit around with his headphones in and ask “Are you okay?” when his mom is going through a heartbreak.

~ When and why did Emma stop wearing Hook’s ring pendant? Did she give it back to him when they both returned to Storybrooke?

~ Snow refers to her son as a toddler, but he can’t be more than a few months old, maybe a year at most!

~ I like that Hook and Liam II have a goodbye hug, but I wish they had more scenes together! Despite sparing him in their fight, Liam has not really been shown forgiving Hook or accepting him as his brother.

~ Jasmine mentions Scheherazade!!! About time a female storyteller got some credit!

~ How does Ariel’s flashback storyline fit in with her present-day story in Season 3? Did she not tell Eric about her mermaid identity when they reunited in Storybrooke?

~ While I wish Aladdin had been a more active character this season, it is cool to see Jasmine be the one to defeat Jafar!

Episode 6x16 “Mother’s Little Helper”

~ I can’t see Emma allowing Gideon into her home when Henry is there.

~ The Black Fairy is way too giggly. They speak of how evil she is, but she acts like a school bully.

~ Wait, so the Dragon did make it out of the mirror?

~ The way Hook says “civilized” reminds me of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but betting a ship in a game of cards seems like Han Solo and Lando Calrissian!

~ Would Blackbeard really carry something as powerful and valuable as a magic bean in his hat?

~ Captain Hook running from Lost Boys seems a bit undignified.

~ How ironic Gold saves Emma’s life in the very same manor where he tried to kill her!

~ How can Emma tell a parent that their child cannot be saved?!

~ If the heroes left behind the Lost Boys who remained loyal to Pan, why did they take Felix with them when they left Neverland?

~ Having Gideon be controlled by the Black Fairy via his heart may preserve his innocence, but also undermines all his motivation in the last few episodes. Whose idea was it for him to impersonate Aesop?

~ The Black Fairy’s dress at the end of the episode looks like spiderwebs! I guess spiders are kind of her motif, like the Other Mother in Coraline.

Episode 6x17 “Awake”

~ “Who said this was a rescue?” had me laughing out loud!

~ Emma and Snow wear similar shirts in this episode, black with white collars!

~ What caused the pixie flower to grow at that point, ten years after the curse was cast? Did some evil arrive that caused it to appear?

~ The idea that people woke up from the curse before Emma broke it really undermines the significance of her role.

~ Did David have fake memories when he first woke up from his coma? Did he understand the technology of this world?

~ Who is that police officer/security guard? Shouldn’t it be Graham as the sheriff?

~ David’s confidence that Hook is fighting for Emma is beautiful!

~ Hook references the Tiger Lily at Skull Rock incident from the book Peter Pan!

~ How could there be so many Lost Boys left behind on Neverland? There weren’t nearly that many in season 3!

~ “Why is it never past their bloody bedtime?” Hook must have had more than his share of hearing the Lost Boys’ parties!

~ The pig and the conch seem like allusions to Lord of the Flies, which is also about boys stranded on an island!

~ Emma shows great character growth in that she understands and forgives her parents giving up the chance to raise her in order to let her save the rest of their community.

~ I had to look up Geppetto/Marco’s toast, “Cent’Anni.” It is a traditional Italian toast meaning “May You Live 100 Years.” That is so beautiful in the context of Snow and Charming’s sleeping curse!

~ The distribution of the sleeping curse in a chalice seems like a strange inversion of the Eucharist (aka Communion or the Lord’s Supper). They are aware of Snow and Charming’s sacrifice for them, and they choose to sacrifice for them in return. It also reminds me of Paradise Lost, when Adam learns that Eve has eaten the forbidden fruit, and chooses to eat it in order to share in her curse rather than be separated from her.

Episode 6x18 “Where Bluebirds Fly”

~ This may be the first Zelena-focused episode that I remotely like!

~ Honestly, Snow and David should understand why Emma and Hook would want some privacy. Both couples just reunited after being separated for a while, and the sleeping curse was going on even longer than Hook’s disappearance!

~ Does Regina just regularly go to Gold and/or Belle to stock up on potion ingredients?

~ Emma and Hook are so sappy and shameless at this point! And their bemused expressions as David and Snow argue over them are hilarious!

~ Hook is a good man to put up with his future in-laws’ bickering over his wedding; but he could have been a little more assertive about what he and Emma want rather than what Snow wants.

~ “If this is about Hook, that ship has sailed, and there’s a pirate on it, deal with it!”

~ David’s monologue is wonderful, but Snow’s reaction, expressing doubt about the outcome of the Final Battle, seems out-of-character for her.

~ Baby Robin’s care is a throughline of this episode, but who is taking care of baby Neal while his parents plan his sister’s wedding?

~ Emma saying Robin is “one of us” in the presence of only Regina and Zelena made me wonder if Robin might be a magic wielder like them!

~ I am surprised that they actually had Zelena give up her magic. When Emma tried to do that in Season 4, it was portrayed as a terrible thing, indicative of self-loathing. And magic has had such a huge impact on Zelena’s life and identity, for her to give it up is a huge personal sacrifice. I’m not sure we’ve seen her reach the point of being able to do something like that unless it was for her child’s direct benefit.

~ I like that Belle has a subtle arc in this episode, with her role as a babysitter having some relevance at the end.

Episode 6x19 “The Black Fairy”

~ I never thought we would see grown-up Peter Pan again!

~ The candles flicker out for a moment when Rumple is born, just like how the electric lights flickered when Henry and Neal were born!

~ The baby really does look like Rumple and Pan!

~ If Tiger Lily was Rumple’s fairy godmother, that raises a lot of questions about her relationships with Pan and Hook in Neverland. Did she recognize Pan as Rumple's de-aged father? Did she know about Hook’s quest for revenge on the person she was supposed to safeguard? Did she try to sabotage Hook, in order to protect her charge?

~ It's funny and interesting to hear Regina and Zelena talk about living without magic. But how are electric lights more barbaric than candles or whatever means they used in their respective lands?

~ Regina really got Zelena a monkey key chain!

~ Gold should know that Hook would be outraged at him for putting Emma into a magic sleep of any kind!

~ Is “Dreams are a maze” an unsubtle reference to Inception?

~ Gold says it's a "luxury" to "always do the right thing." That sounds like John Paul II's definition of freedom!

~ Zelena says "boody hell" now!

~ Regina asking Zelena to look after Henry is amazing, but the timing of it in the middle of their comical driving lesson feels awkward. And shouldn’t Emma also be part of the conversation about who would raise Henry if his parents died? And wouldn't Henry have some reservations about starting a new life with the woman who killed his father?

~ "Do this for me, so that no mother will ever be ripped from her child." Was that a veiled threat? Or did Fiona really want to prevent the separation that she eventually caused for so many?

~ It’s interesting to see Emma (attempt to) bond with Gold, of all people, over the experience of being an orphan.

~ Granny’s being the heart of Storybrooke … makes sense on some level, but could have benefited from more setup or acknowledgement of it as such.

~ “Jukebox?” “Jukebox.”

~ Finally, someone introduces the idea of passwords to confirm identity! They have fallen prey to too many magical impostures.

~ I find it a bit hard to believe that Regina never killed a fairy during her reign of terror.

~ Regina is wearing light colors when she faces off against the Black Fairy!

~ While it’s a bit of a stretch to believe that a fairy can be bested with a car crash, Zelena coming in to save Regina that way was both awesome and hilarious!

~ I don’t like the idea that the Dark Curse was created by the Black Fairy rather than Rumplestiltskin. Was he playing into her hand by finding someone to cast it, just as Regina played into his hand by casting it? That kind of behind-the-scenes manipulation isn’t needed since it was already there.

~ So after turning Granny’s upside-down, the heroes just have a relaxing dinner there? And they don’t even stand up when Gold informs them that he killed his own mother to protect them? They don’t seem very appreciative!

~ When and why did they decide to hold the wedding so soon? They just talked about postponing it! Most people wait at least a few months, and all that planning and arranging that had Mary Margaret so excited takes time!

~ Belle should recognize that Gold is singing the same tune he always has, saying that everything he does is to protect his family.

~ Hook asking Henry to be his best man is such a great moment! They started out mainly caring about each other because of their connections to Emma and Neal, but they’ve developed a real friendship and respect for each other.

~ What happened to the Blue Fairy?! Did the Black Fairy really torture her to get the information on the wand? Did Gold really restore her to the other fairies?

Episode 6x20 “The Song in Your Heart”

~ The title sequence is similar to the wedding episode of Steven Universe, with an orchestra tuning their instruments!

~ This whole episode is wonderful! The hilarity of seeing the characters break into song, and be self-aware about it, helps offset the heaviness of the present-day plot, where Emma’s wedding day and her entire future are both at stake. But the theme of music also serves a purpose for the plot, and gives Emma an epiphany about her life, her inner strength, and her relationship with her parents. Music lovers know that there is something powerful, almost sacred, about it, and having that explored in the context of OUAT is really interesting.

~ The musical numbers do an impressive job walking the line between parody and earnestness. They represent each of the characters well, and are just plain fun to watch.

~ Hook is the only one who wholeheartedly embraces the singing without questioning it or finding it strange.

~ I can’t tell if Zelena is self-aware about her song or if it is one of those musical numbers that just represents her interior thoughts.

~ Zelena’s actions in the flashbacks don’t really make sense.

~ How can Emma run away when her fiancé, parents, and friends are frozen in the Black Fairy’s custody? Why does the Black Fairy let her go instead of threatening to kill them then and there?

~ Emma tries to do the same thing Henry did in season 3, giving up her heart to one of Rumplestiltskin’s parents.

~ Emma seems like the last person to embrace singing, as she’s always been the most resistant to magic, emotion, and vulnerability. So it’s really significant that the climax of her journey involves her finding power through a song.

~ Emma’s song is the first in the episode that doesn’t feel like it’s half playing for laughs: the music is powerful, and the lyrics are completely serious and show Emma’s growth as a character. She has not only forgiven her parents, she has come to believe that they were right to give her up, because she needed to fulfill her role as the Savior.

~ “A Happy Beginning” is just perfect. The characters understand that there are still challenges ahead they need to face, yet they enjoy the moment, look to the future with hope, and commit to stand with each other through whatever comes.

~ Archie and Marco are both at the wedding, but August is nowhere to be seen! He must have been present off-camera, because there is no way he would miss Emma’s wedding.

~ I thought I heard several subtle references to songs from other musicals, including “Let It Go” from Frozen, and “On My Own” and “A Heart Full of Love” from Les Misérables

Episode 6x21 “The Final Battle Part 1”

~ Is that David’s sword, the one Emma used to slay Maleficent? Is that why they included those clips in the recap?

~ Why is Henry always exempt from the Dark Curse(s)? Did Fiona choose to keep him in Storybrooke so she could use him as leverage over Emma? Letting him retain his memories and the storybook seems like too much of a risk.

~ There seem to be way more asylum patients, and a much better facility for them, in this curse’s version of Storybrooke.

~ Emma taking her medicine gives big Matrix vibes.

~ When Hook wakes up, the first thing he does is look at his hand to see if his wedding ring is still there!

~ How is the Charmings’ old castle standing? Wasn’t it destroyed in the first curse? Didn’t Emma and Snow see it in ruins when they went there in Season 2?

~ Having Hook face the beanstalk again is a great way to get the characters to reflect on the beginning of his relationship with Emma. His speech to David is full of emotion and accurately summarizes what made his and Emma’s relationship so compelling, both similar and different from other love stories in fairy tales.

~ Henry acknowledges that Hook is Emma’s true love!

~ Even when she doesn’t believe him, Emma still loves and appreciates Henry so much.

~ Finally, they addressed the fact that Wish Snow and Charming were killed!

~ So Wish Robin, who was a selfish scoundrel, still met Friar Tuck at some point? Why do they never show this friar?!

~ Henry’s smile is so proud when Fiona talks about how hard it is to get Emma to stop believing.

~ Hook and David have a nice moment in the giants’ castle, but the context feels contrived. And that “obstacle course” isn’t all that difficult for Hook to overcome.

~ Is that dragon supposed to be Maleficent?

Episode 6x22 “The Final Battle Part 2”

~ Hook calling Snow “Mummy” is funny, but it feels a bit immature and regressive after he’s come so far in his relationship with Emma’s parents.

~ There is absolutely no need for Snow to say “It’s important.” Hook knows how bloody important it is!

~ I wish Hook and David’s climb ended up making an actual difference in the plot.

~ Unlike when Emma first tried to leave Storybrooke, nothing impedes her when she drives away this time. Fate does not intervene with a wolf or some other distraction or obstacle.

~ It looks like Henry can draw, just like his father and paternal grandmother!

~ Having Snow and Charming reverse roles and play out the true love’s kiss awakening was not necessary. They already did that back in season 2, and they revisited the sleeping curse imagery throughout this season. There is no uncertainty about the strength and authenticity of their love, so it does not carry any real suspense.

~ Is that the mirror from Beauty and the Beast?

~ What was that shot of Emma barging into the mayor’s office with the sword for? Did she intend to use it against Fiona?

~ How can light snuff out light? It doesn’t make sense.

~ Gold kills Fiona way too easily. How can she be defeated by her own wand? Does it work like the Dark One dagger, being the only thing that can destroy its owner? And why is Fiona’s death the event that breaks the curse, rather than Emma coming to believe?

~ Why did the writers have Belle reunite with Gold only for her to be left behind while he has his final temptation? Why not just have them reunite after?

~ Where did Emma get the beanie? Did she pause to put it on while running from Gideon with the sword?

~ Hook saying they should kill Gideon makes no sense. He was there when Gideon was born; Gideon is Belle's son and Baelfire/Neal's brother; and they know that he’s not in control of himself. Hook knows what that is like from his own experience of someone controlling his heart.

~ David calling Gideon an SOB is actually insulting Belle!

~ Emma’s declaration of who and what she is reminds me of a line from Peter Pan declaring his identity to Captain Hook: “I’m youth, I’m joy.”

~ The climax and resolution happen way too quickly.

~ I think Hook should have been the one to kiss and awaken Emma. Yes, Henry doing it is a nice parallel to her waking him in Season 1, but their relationship had been solid and unquestioned for years, and he had already served a heroic role in the finale by getting Emma to believe. In contrast, Hook had just married Emma a day earlier, after many ups and downs in their relationship, and he had failed to break curses by kissing her on two previous occasions (in season 3 and season 5). Plus, his whole adventure in the previous episode yielded no real effect on the plot. Having him be the one to say “I love you” and kiss Emma to restore her to life would have been more fulfilling for both the plot and the characters’ relationship. Plus, if he thought she was gone for good, it could have been a really emotional growing moment for Hook, seeing his love sacrifice herself for him and everyone else, and respecting that in spite of losing her. Then the kiss would have been completely based on how he felt, not on any pragmatic hope as in the previous cases.

~ Gideon turning into a baby again feels like the kind of false solution Gold proposed to his other son. He offered to make Neal a teenage boy again so they could have a do-over. Does turning into a baby again erase all of Gideon’s memories, the experiences that shaped him? (I can hardly call it character development since his character was not really well written.)

~ Was that Tinker Bell? Did she return to Neverland after all?

~ I’m glad that David is the one taking care of Neal now, instead of him being left with a babysitter while both his parents work!

~ Violet is waiting for Henry at the bus stop! But it’s such a fleeting glimpse it’s easy to miss.

~ Emma making Hook her deputy is excellent! He has come such a long way in his life, from indentured servant to navy man to pirate to law enforcement.

~ The dwarves making new signage for Regina’s door is sweet, but giving her the title of queen again seems weird. Snow and David are the real leaders of Storybrooke, and there are other princes and princesses there too. If they want to have an official leader, they really ought to be elected.

~ Having Gold and Belle dance to the music from “Beauty and the Beast” is sweet, but they’ve done it before, and their reconciliation doesn’t really feel earned after how much he put her through. How does she know if she can trust him now? Does he still have the Dark One dagger?

~ The only thing that seems missing from the montage is a shot of the Jolly Roger. Hook may not live there anymore, but I’m sure it would still be a part of his new family’s life.

~ That last shot of everyone sitting on one side of a long table is just like Da Vinci’s “Last Supper”! After all the jokes and sarcastic comments about family dinners in this show (“Maybe one day they’ll invite you to dinner,” “It’s a good thing we didn’t have Thanksgiving in our land,” etc.) it’s amazing to see them all come together for a meal—even those who have killed each other's loved ones and/or tried to kill each other.

~ Honestly, that last scene of Lucy knocking on Henry’s door would not have been a terrible place to end the series. Then, if the writers wanted, they could have told Lucy’s story in a separate spin-off.

[unikittybigbrightworldau]

Citizens of Botania

Head over to Botania and rustle up your leaves as I tell about the folks who live there.

(I know- that was bad.)

Lucinda Fox is Dr. Fox’s great grandmother, and she seems to be the matriarch of the clan. She and many other foxes reside in Veridan, Botania’s forest area (with both deciduous and coniferous trees in it), in a neighborhood called Fox Hollow. As you can probably tell from her coat, science runs in the family; back in her day, she discovered five new elements and made the earliest motherboard. She also had a hand in designing environmentally-friendly power systems. She still continues to explore the world around her today, and she has a close bond with her tight-knit family.

Lucinda’s two children are Jessie, Dr. Fox’s grandmother, and Jay, her great-uncle. Jessie has a degree in environmental science and took Dr. Fox to Botania’s natural history museum when she was a little kid. She created a device to measure and keep track of soil fertility. She’s a stylish and lighthearted woman. Jay likes to feed birds and let them land on his fingertips. He’s a lights operator who works at the Flytrap Theater in Veridan. He’s carefree, much like Jessie. Jay and Jessie are twins.

Forrest, Felix, Don and Rosemary are Jay’s children and the cousins of Dr. Fox’s dad, Benton. Forrest Fox studies physics and loves being outdoors, all the way down to sleeping outside. Felix Fox is a mathematician who’s logical yet compassionate. He can’t see very well out of one of his eyes. Donaldo Fox, or Don, is the only known member of Dr. Fox’s family who is actually licensed to practice medicine, and does it professionally. He cooks pastas and veggies in his spare time. He's all about the truth, so he can't stand when people don't get facts right. Rosemary Fox, or Rosie, is a mirthful teacher with a sharp memory. She teaches at a general school, which means she teaches basic life skills to young kids. One of her students just so happened to be Rose, and they’ve always joked about the likeness of their names.

Vita Fox is Dr. Fox’s older sister. Like her cousin Lila, she lives by herself, and her home isn’t too far from where her relatives live. She likes to skate, and she also studies the behavioral habits of people. She’s generous, selfless, and is close with her family just like her great grandma. She and her sister were close when they were younger. To this day, she thinks about her a lot.

Then, there's Needle Herichon, the sea urchin who ruined the lives of many Marevians. I put him here because he's now in a banishment hold a ways away from Botania. It's a place where Marevi and Botania try to rehabilitate their worst offenders. He is controlling, dishonest, and doesn't care what happens so long as it benefits him. He won't admit that, though. He's a social urchin who has no problem talking with other people. However, he's also selfish and hungry for fame. He married Celina and built Spike with her just to get achievement points. He disrespected their boundaries, spreading mean rumors to discredit them while claiming he was helping them. He also tried to force Celina to stay with him, and lured a sea monster to a marketplace, hoping a battle would win her back. The Doom Lords are attempting to recruit Needle and give him the title of Master Deceit. His headcanon voice? Hadrian from Minecraft: Story Mode.

Lord Terran Monarch is the fairy ruler of Botania. He acts as a conscience towards his people and does his best to guide them down the path of life. He's selfless, environmentally aware, and very hail-fellow-well-met. He'll do what he can to ensure that the world will have a future to protect. Lord Terran is also good friends with King Nettle and Queen Moonlily, just like Botania is with Marevi. He wears glasses that help him see and read; without them, he can’t see at all. 

Zora is a dragontail butterfly and a close friend to Kira. He doesn’t like being in just one place for very long, nor does he like getting wet. He travels around Botania’s desert and grassland areas. He is able to fly at great speeds, which makes him hard to spot. Moving at quick paces, Zora gets easily impatient and bored. But, he's a loyal and sympathetic friend and a resilient guy.

Allegra is another one of Kira's friends. She is a graceful performer who is regarded as one of the most beautiful fairies in her tree. She is a skilled trapeze artist, and she's part of the circus at her school. She is the peppiest and liveliest in Kira's friend group, and she loves when people watch her flip and swing. Trapeze isn't an easy art, and Allegra isn't a trapeze expert. She sometimes falls down, but she doesn't let her misses define her.

Bia is also part of Kira's friend circle like Zora and Allegra. Though feisty, she is inventive and problem-solving, and she tinkers with things she finds in the nature that surrounds her. She fixes things and also makes sure that they don't leave behind waste or use lots of energy. She's never been able to feel her wings, so she has these flight aids to help her fly. Her headcanon voice is Tink from the Tinker Bell movies. 

Fern is Kira’s older brother. He is a farmer who is learning to care for crops and plants. He has no problem with getting dirty when he works. He's considerate, so he checks in on Kira most often.

Kira and Fern were raised by their grandmother, Emi. She is a funny and sweet woman who likes to draw pictures. Her works are hung up in restaurants and libraries in the tree. Much like Kira, she likes having fun, so she's always up for some playtime. She also helped the siblings stay safe.

Desiree is a deer/mole hybrid known for selling tickets at cinemas and amusement parks. She lives to experience things, so in her time off, she heads in to see a flick or hop on a ride herself.

In Botania, the Gemflowers are the only people whose names are based on what they are. In their case, it's either their flower or their gemstone. Rose is a dashing Gemflower who's fine with being called either Rose or Ruby. They're also fine with being referred to as a he, she, they, it, or something else. He's energetic, vehement, and is good at chasing monsters or beasts away. They've considered joining the Bramble Wall, which defends Botania by doing that. They're also friends with Fern.

Carnation is an investigative young lass who says something important when no one expects it. She is technically siblings with Snapdragon, the sound effects artist for the Petalstones. Like her, she was created in a lab by Dr. Fox's aunt Daisy. People who Carnation is friends with, such as Allegra and Bia, know this, but she'd never brag about it.

Sapphire is an early bird who never seems to run out of stamina. He likes to work out every morning and makes sure he's getting enough sunlight. He lets fairies and insects rest on the top of his head flower.

Cherry Blossom is a friend of Kira's. He's sweet on one side but sour on the other. He's generally courteous, like Botanians usually are. But on some days, he'll be direct and open, and on others, he'll be tired and want to be left alone. He's always moving forward.

Freesia is a Gemflower who's only a young kid. She's innocent and a little bit superstitious. She often goes to hug the fairy trees, believing it'll make her wishes come true.

Moonstone is an instinctive friend of Kira's who also likes to call herself Brugmansia. She's an animal lover, just like her. She doesn't take kindly to people who don't show basic decency. She shows respect like most others, but knows that she doesn't owe anyone that respect.

[missxpip]

[ avan jogia, nonbinary, he/they/him/they ] - was that KAI SHRI i saw by the lighthouse today? i heard that the THIRTY ONE year old who has been in nightrest for SIX MONTHS and works as a/an HISTORY TEACHER AT Wardwell Academy has a reputation of being WARMHEARTED, but also STUBBORN. they reside in ASHMORE & people in town usually associate them with OLD BOOKS, BLACK AND WHITE MOVIES AND A GOOD JACKET. let’s hope the killer doesn’t go after them next. 

Basics:

full name: Dr Kai Andrew Shri  nickname(s): Shaz hometown: Born in London, grew up between London and Canada  current location: Nightrest, Massachusetts gender: nonbinary  pronouns: they/he/him/them sexuality: bisexual  occupation: History teacher at Wardwell Academy

Biography:

Kai was born in London, England. Kai’s family came from money on both sides and their dad owned several businesses that Kai never really bothered to understand. Though growing up, to Kai it felt like they used that money to keep them far away from home. Kai travelled to Canada and America often for their dad’s work. Kai knew that their dad wanted Kai to follow in his footsteps one day. But from a young age, Kai knew that life was not for them. Though most of Kai’s childhood was spent in boarding schools between England and Canada. Their dad had very little interest in finding out about Kai and what they wanted to do, all his father cared about was his own job.

Kai has always been a little rough around the edges but that has always been part of their charm. As a child, they always seemed to attract attention and Kai could always talk their way out of trouble. That was the Shri gift. At least that’s what their dad told them. Despite appearances and often portraying themselves as the class clown and appearing to be trouble, Kai actually did very well in school. Kai was naturally smart and finished high school with good enough grades to move away for college and to start their own life.

Despite their father wanting them to go into law, Kai applied to study history. Being away from their dad and finally out of boarding school was good for Kai, for the first time in their life, Kai felt like they could be kai. They moved to Massachusetts studying history at Boston University. Being in Boston was the change Kai had needed, they made friends easily and they finally felt like they could be themselves. No pretending to fit into boarding school, no trying to live up to their father’s expectations. He could experimented with clothes, hairstyles and really found his confidence. When they turned 21, Kai inherited money from their family and they wanted to do something for themselves. They graduated from Boston with honours and took the next step of studying a masters degree. It was exciting and for the first time in their life, making their own decisions. 

In their early twenties, Kai met Julia. She was a beautiful and kind girl and Kai wanted to look after her, Kai wanted to give her a good life. They soon asked her to move in with them. Kai had never intended to get married so young but they were in love and it felt like the next step. College, good job, get married and settle. But Kai wasn’t ready for that life. They still wanted to study, Kai wanted to continue to find themselves but as selfish as that was, they’d never meant to hurt her. Kai knew they loved her but it also didn’t feel right. Kai knew cheating was immature and wrong and they grew to accept that mistake and own that. But Kai also knew they hadn’t cheated for no reason, they’d got in a place they weren’t ready to be in. 

Kai respected Julia’s decision to divorce them and part of them felt free even though they felt awful for hurting her. Kai returned to university, eventually gaining a doctorate in history and taking a place as a history professor in the university. Throughout their twenties Kai continued to find themselves. They dated men and women, and Kai’s passion for history and writing grew.

A friend at the University mentioned the teaching job in Nightrest and Kai had to admit he was intrigued by the town. Maybe that was the historian in them. Kai moved to town last summer, taking up the teaching position and getting to share their love of history to the students. When the body washed up in January just a few months after moving to town, Kai was a little shaken but they tried not to read too much into it. Kai had moved around their whole life, sometimes bad things happened. Though the recent death in the school definitely felt a little closer to home, Kai was not going to let it chase him out of town. Though they definitely make sure their door is locked before having a late night drink.

[bioswear]

I'm a AAA game dev who went to grad school at a different program from SMU Guildhall and regretted it bc my own program was a scam with instructors who hadn't been in the industry for 10+ years. Is that just how it is everywhere?

Oh buddy (gender neutral) I’m so sorry to hear that you also had a shit experience :(

Unfortunately from various people my age who also went to other programs, it just sounds like the state of game/animation programs are decreasing in quality every fucking year 😔 and it’s honestly something that really fires me up bc so many students are being affected and so many of these kids are either trying to get their masters and higher education in hopes of getting a job or because they couldn’t find a job out of college, but instead they’re spending 100k+ on programs that literally put out false advertisements and then not only are they in debt but they end up sometimes SO far behind where students who take like, CGMA or Gnomon workshops are (because those are taught by CURRENT devs who have the time)

We had an entire faculty of white men who hadn’t been involved in any current AAA dev cycles for like, ten years, as well and it SHOWED. Our art teacher (the same jackass who decided to fail me out of my masters degree bc he literally didn’t like me) refused to teach us fucking MAYA ? Like I was lucky to have learned it in undergrad. His logic was “Maya is only for the masters to use.” Like??? Are we NOT in a masters program???

We only had TWO women on faculty, one was the academic advisors wife and another was a Korean woman who had a very, what I could only describe as being the equivalent to when minorities vote Republican? Idk if that makes sense but I didn’t trust her even tho she was a WOC bc she remained incredibly neutral or ignorant in advocating for students of color.

We had an incredibly ignorant academic advisor who told me I would never make it in any game Studio because I had “strong opinions” and those opinions were “hey maybe the game designer student lead should listen to her devs that she’s making redo maps for five different times and crunch disgustingly instead of demanding more feature creep”

And Not to just bitch further about my own woes, but at least for mine, we were told we would be learning ALL facets of art for games (like rigging and animation, VFX, character art, etc. - literally all facets) and we got maybe like, Environment art only for four years bc Boris couldn’t stand to fucking do anything else (he didn’t even teach us trim sheets tho…) and then we had one 1hr zbrush class that met once a week for the first semester only, and the rest was like “good luck. Go! Jump! What? Your parachute has a hole in it? Sucks for you not my problem BYEEEEE” and I ended up literally teaching myself character art through YouTube and feeling bad for asking Senior character devs on Twitter for advice and feedback.

TLDR: unfortunately yes, the state of games programs seems to be shitty everywhere and I wish I could Gordon Ramsay kitchen nightmare a solution for all programs so devs and artists and everyone who invests actually gets the education and training they paid for

[hessbynum]

Sue Massek Project - Blog #1

I probably should’ve written all of this a month or maybe two ago. While I was very good at documenting my musical escapades prior to the pandemic… I’ve failed to resume that activity once the world started turning again. I did write a blog in 2022 about my first experience with Cowan Creek Mountain Music School, but instead of posting it I got COVID. I want to apologize because there’s been plenty to report all along. 

Photo of our class in 2022.

In June of 2023, I was at Cowan Creek Mountain Music School again. Sue Massek asked me if I would be interested in being her next apprentice under the Kentucky Folklife program run by the Kentucky Arts Council. I agreed, we applied, and we were approved to proceed. We had our first meeting in July, which was some songwriting swapping, stories with Sue, and plotting. 

Jessie Northridge, Sue Massek, and me on the right.

I figured I should probably write up how I met Sue and since I’ve had some blogs travel farther than I expected, I’m going to start at the very beginning. 

***My Story***

I grew up in the Nashville, Tennessee area. When I was about 8 years old, my school got a Suzuki violin program. I brought the flyer home and asked permission. My parents came home the next day with a small violin. 

While we, of course, learned orchestral music, we were in Nashville. I learned how to fiddle as a child and we also learned about what we called string band music. I almost never heard the terms bluegrass or old time. Being in Nashville, we had professionals with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra visit us along with touring musicians who played in country music bands.

Me with my first violin. It was clearly a little big, but I grew into it.

***Appalachian Music***

It wasn’t until I was an adult I started to unpack the tangle of traditions I had been brought up in, musically speaking. I suppose I thought everyone got handed a mountain dulcimer at some point, and plenty of families had musical traditions that involved forming a band, and how those Appalachian traditions intermingled into *Nashville* itself. I'm not mountain folk. But I now see how interwoven Appalachian traditions are into what I learned as a child and what I do now as an adult.

***Moving to Kentucky***

I wound up in Kentucky when I went to Transylvania University to study Applied Music and Teaching Music. Unfortunately, I only got to teach music in the public schools a short while. The Kentucky legislature changed the rules while I was wrapping up my degree forcing teachers to get a masters degree. After two years my certification expired and the only way to renew it was to enroll in a masters program. The universities weren’t set up to support online learning yet or really working teachers. I had struggled with my true education classes, so getting a masters in education seemed very daunting, which was my only option as a working teacher. I also wasn’t keen on amassing more student debt, so I resigned.

***Finding a Place in Corporate Learning***

I took a part time retail job thinking I would do that while I figured it out and it wasn’t long before I was a corporate trainer. I had found a new niche. I didn’t play music for a while as it was so painful. In many ways I felt like I had failed, but looking back on things I’m outraged over how the state created their own teacher shortage. The state has since undone their requirement, but my thoughts on all of it are a whole separate blog.

I was a traveling trainer for a number of years and started playing music on my own. Once my travel winded down with corporate changes, I joined the Heartland Dulcimer Club which connected me with more Appalachian music circles. 

Photo of me playing with the Heartland Dulcimer Club in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

In 2013, I started a masters degree in Training and Development with emphasis in eLearning through the University of Saint Francis. I did the degree program entirely online. At points I was working full time, a full time graduate student, and serving on two non-profit boards. (I tend to have fruitful and fallow seasons. I was clearly in a strong fruitful season.)

***Meeting Sue***

In 2014, I signed up for Kentucky Music Week which is a wonderful event every summer in Bardstown, Kentucky run by the amazing Nancy Johnson Barker. (If you are a mountain or hammered dulcimer player, you must go!) KMW offers 5 possible classes a day. I signed up for 5 classes and one of them was a beginning old time banjo class with Sue Massek. My husband had a banjo he didn't play, so I borrowed it and off I went.

For one of my university classes I had to do a research project and write a paper. I had selected Highlander Folk School as I’ve been past its current location in Tennessee and frankly, didn’t know much about it. It was a harder topic as there’s comparatively less published on the subject than say Dale Carnegie. 

***Highlander Folk School***

I was fascinated by what I learned. Highlander Folk School was founded by Myles Horton in 1932. Back in his day mountain folk were called highlanders. His vision was of a place where community members could come together to learn and work together to solve problems. Drawing inspiration from the Danish folk school system, Horton eventually organized workshops around topics so you had the right people in the room to work through problems together. Highlander Folk School was instrumental in the labor union movement and the civil rights movement. 

Sue had indicated on her artist bio that she had frequented Highlander Folk School, so I wanted to talk to her about it. We were already almost to the end of the week on Thursday when I got up the courage to ask. Sue had given us a moment to practice on our own which also allowed her a chance to help anyone one on one. Imagine a room with 15 or so banjo players all playing at once, but not in unison. While she was free, I asked Sue about Highlander Folk School. She asked me if I had been. I said no and explained my research paper. She looked thoughtful and said, “One time Rosa Parks was my roommate.” The room was instantly silent and I’ll never forget someone in the back said, “What?” While we all learn about Rosa Parks in school, what we don’t learn is that she was trained in passive resistance at a workshop at Highlander Folk School. Sue told us about her experience rooming with Rosa Parks. 

A few things happened that day. While I didn’t know much about Sue prior to that week, I started the process to learn more. I also went and bought an open back banjo because I was absolutely hooked on the instrument. 

Over the next ten years, I would take classes with Sue any chance I got. Each time I learn something new and she tells amazing stories about her incredible life.

Me, Sue, and Mr. Barrett after a KMW class in 2018.

***Apprenticeship***

I think everyone else who has apprenticed with Sue over the years was aspiring to be a professional musician, which is not the case with me. I have a day job that I love, but I am active in the musical community. While I’ve been on hiatus from the Heartland Dulcimer Club for a few years now (I missed them!), I’m currently serving on the Louisville Folk School board and will likely seek somewhere to start teaching group classes again once I finish my apprenticeship. I've also been aspiring to record an album, something I've willingly slow walked as more time means more original songs to work with.

For the project, I have a number of songs I want to learn from Sue that we've somehow missed over the years. I'm also digitizing some of Sue's personal recordings from over the years so we can make them available. I expect I'll be blogging about them here as I get them uploaded. Sue is an amazing songwriter, so songwriting is in the mix too.

[asprinterandamarathon]

BOTR - Day 31 - July 15, 2024

We slept until 8:15am this morning. It was especially dark in the bottom of the canyon, having been surrounded by trees. Due to lack of cell service and not having a map, we weren’t aware of any nearby hiking so we decided to scoot. We pointed the van towards the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

One hundred yards after we pulled onto the main road, the tire check light came on. Checking status, we saw that we had 18 pounds of pressure in the front passenger tire. No cell service… no AAA. I had visions of changing a tire on the side of the highway.

The tire was low but not flat. I thought about driving on it to the next town but we knew that it would be a distance, from 10 to 40 miles away. Then I remembered that I had my bike pump. So I started pumping for 20 minutes to add 30 pounds of pressure. That got us to a tire shop 30 miles down the road.

Ha! Working that bike pump for 30 psi.

The view from the tire shop.

We wrapped up a little before noon and decided to get lunch in the next town. Thirty minutes later and we were parked on Main St in Delta, CO.

Main St.

Delta appeared prosperous in that most of the storefronts had open businesses but the street lacked foot traffic. It appeared to be a solid blue collar town with restaurants, bars, a coffee shop, a sweet shop, tattoo parlor, vape stores, and working clothes stores.

Delta mural.

We found a cafe that was packed with locals and decided to eat there. Diane had a BLT and French fries with gravy. I had an open faced roast beef and mashed potatoes both covered in gravy. The food was good and the other customers appeared to be eating similar meals. Needless to say, I did t see any diet plates.

From Delta we stopped in Montrose before heading up to the Black Canyon. The temperature was close to 95 so we weren’t in a hurry to do things outdoors. When we did get to the park, the temperature had dropped 15-20 degrees primarily due to elevation.

We stopped first at the visitors center to learn about the park. For the most part, any hiking and viewing of the canyon takes place from the top. Wilderness permits are required to hike down into the canyon or to float through it.

Death grip on the railing!

A hike over the edge.

Carved by the Gunnison River, the canyon is only as wide as the river at some points. In average, it is 1,800’ across with it being most narrow at 1,100’ across. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison has the greatest combination of depth, steepness, and narrowness of any canyon in North America. All of which was formed over the past two million years.

Go see it. Pics do not justice.

The Gunnison River drops an average of 97 feet per mile through the canyon, accounting for the canyon’s depth, etc. In contrast, the Colorado River drops just seven feet per mile in to the 12 million year old Grand Canyon.

Zoom in.

After the visitors center we checked out a few viewing points and then made our way to our campsite. After dinner, we walked around a bit to check out the local birds. On our way back we met two teachers from Massachusetts who were on a National Parks tour for 6 weeks. Interestingly, one got her Masters Degree from Montana State in Bozeman. Another young woman, also from Mass., was on a similar trip having just graduated. It’s nice to see young people enjoying the National Parks!

One of the hikes.

To wrap up the evening, we listened to a ranger tell us about ravens. I was able to sleep well knowing that now I could identify a raven vs. a crow. Ravens are larger and have hackle feathers, crows are loud and make a lot of noise, crows are everywhere, ravens tend to be more north and west although they are smart enough and adaptive enough to live anywhere.

Knowledge is power.

[eviesessays]

15. What is it like to watch your own children become parents?

I never gave much thought to the matter of my children becoming parents.  I presumed it would certainly happen in good time without any input from me.  I did know I would love to have grandchildren and enjoy being the grandmother I never had.  My grandmother Schreyer died long before I was born and my grandmother Kolody died when I was three.  I’m not sure that I even remember her.  She was a very plump (frankly obese) European woman who wore a babushka.   She had a dog that bit me.  My grandmother experience was not off to a great start .  However, several of my friends had grandmothers who did wonderful grandmotherly things like knit them warm mittens and bake them delicious cookies for after school snacks.  That was the grandmom I aspired to be.  

All my children but Robin had finished college degrees.  All were married and gainfully employed.  I presumed there would be grandchildren for me to admire, dote on, spoil and love with all my heart.  

 Jaylyn and Merton  were the first to venture into parenthood.  Anne was born in 1996.  She was a beautiful baby with large bright alert eyes.  When the nurse bundled her and held her in the nursery window she looked like a little harp seal.  She was a good baby.  I was already dreaming of all the things we might get to do together.  The family bought their first house and moved to Newburyport, MA,  and Digger (Merton Eugene Thompson V) was born.  At very early ages the children were exposed to wonderful books and experiences.  They were frequent visitors to the Jabberwocky bookstore and the Plum Island Nature Preserve.  They attended Montessori schools until they entered the Newburyport school system.  I spent one day a week with them from the time Anne was born and that was the gift of a lifetime.  Once when I was picking them up from school Digger’s teacher told me she learned more from him than she taught him.  I taught Anne to sew, knit and embroider.  We mostly made dolls together.   In 1999 Will was born.  He is just a very kind gentle soul with an incredible fund of knowledge about nature, bugs, birds,  forests and fields.  His studies at University of Maine in Orono were interrupted by the Covid epidemic and all our lives were rearranged by that. Digger, this year finished his Masters degree in Education in England and will teach there for the next two years.  None of the children had designated chores and in that way they differed from my children.  However, they were bright, adventurous and polite children who have grown into bright,  kind, interesting and considerate adults.  

Heather and John had Hillary in 1987.  Heather did not work outside the home so I saw less of them in that first year.  However the following year we bought a bakery together and we saw each other almost every day.  Hillary would be bathed, put into her infant seat and she would sit on the cutting board and keep track of all activity.  Harry joined the family at 10 lb 8 oz.  He was a good baby.  once when I was babysitting them I was about to open the oven when the handle broke off and while staggering backwards I stepped on Harry.  Off we went to Dr. Duggar the pediatrician who asked what brought us to which Hillary said, “My granny stepped on my brother.”  Dr Duggar declared everyone well.  The bakery was not a financial success but it was a great opportunity for both Heather and John to see their children meet  all their milestones.  We met every October at the farm in Warner for Canadian Thanksgiving.  On the Sunday in November after US Thanksgiving we all met at the farm to decorate gingerbread houses.  Heather always made swags for her doors and windows. Those were wonderful memories.  I was fortunate to see both Hillary and Harry graduate in the top 10 in their class at Concord High School.  Hillary graduated with honors from Stevens Institute of Technology with a degree in Biomedical Engineering.  I was ferociously proud to be there. Harry earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA.  I was privileged to be there.  Both went on to complete graduate degrees.  I was a proud grandmother.

Peter and Jennifer had Kalote Rose is 1997.  As with all my other grandchildren I babysat Kalote one day a week while her parents worked.  She was a good baby and easy to entertain.  She met all milestones and was easy to entertain.  She was enrolled in a Nursery school in Windham so she could play with other children.  Pete and Jenn were divorced when Kalote was young but her best interests remained their primary consideration.  In 2019 we were all in New York to see Kalote graduate, summa cum laude from St John’s University with a degree in Education.  That, to me is testimony of good parenting along the way.  It was very good to be together to celebrate.   Kalote is on her own now and in some way I trust the cooking and sewing we did together will stay with her.  She is far more artistic than I am but I will say I am superior at cleaning up but that is no marketable skill.

My youngest daughter, Robin Elizabeth chose not to have children. She married at age 35 and preferred to have dogs.  Her husband Robert Dale Schweikart was a gentle lovely person.  he was an avid tennis player and shared her love of dogs. Robert died of cancer in San Raphael, CA.  Robin moved East to South Carolina to be near family  She lives about seven miles from Heather with her black and white rescue dog named Ally and that’s probably just as things ought to be.