Well, it’s me Amelia again. Things have been going very well around here. I feel the age sitting in again, but I have a wonderful family who take very good care of me. I have six grandchildren! I’m a very lucky grandma. All of them are wonderful, and even though Ellie has moved away, she speaks to me on the phone all the time, and their daughter comes over to play with Mina and Nicola from time to time. I’m very lucky.

Finally, the day of the girls’ birthdays was here. It was exciting for them and for me! I never thought I’d be alive to see them turning into teenagers.

We had the celebration outside. Having our birthdays and weddings outside has become a tradition with our family.

The girls wanted their makeovers after they aged up. They have equal amounts of Shae and Roscoe in them. They’ve grown up to be beautiful young women.

The next thing I was doing…well, I suppose dear little Leonardo doesn’t read this.

I’ve been trying to find him a Rainbow Gem.

I know that he has a friend that I can’t see. My mother was a witch. I know that these sorts of things exist in the world. I wish I had one when I was a child. But, I can just tell that he’s telling the truth about this Riley of his. There are things that just can’t be explained in any other way. Pillow fights by himself where his pillow hits something, and little things being mopped and cleaned around the house. I looked into it, and it turns out, it’s a very real thing. I spoke to some old friends at the science facility, and they told me that if i brought a rainbow gem, that they would try and use it to perform some sort of experimental procedure. I’m not very sure what, though. Science has never been one of my strong points.

I just really want to find this gem for my dear grandson. I have resigned myself to the fact that it is too late for me to have my perfect garden now.

It does wear me out, though. I was out for over twenty four hours the other day. Roscoe was beside himself when i finally came home. I feel he might think I’m senile.

Leisure Day always puts people into good spirits. We had a pool party here. It was a lovely affair full of music, dancing and swimming. The teenagers had a water balloon fight, and I spent most of my time in the hot tub with Shae or swimming with little Leo. It’s not as if I can become even more wrinkled! I’ve been an elder twice, and I am really very old!

Roscoe was writing his second book, a sequel to his popular romance novel “A Time for Love”. Her really is an emotional man. I’m so happy he found a wife that makes him as happy as his father made me.

Nicola was experimenting with the chemistry set we got a while ago. I had let her and her sister in on my little plan, at which point she told me she heard about a potion that might do the trick. Fingers crossed. The girls seemed pretty willing to believe me, even though they never believed him when he used to talk about Riley when they were children. I think they know grandma knows best! I love my girls.

I noticed bright lights in the sky one night, and looked out my window to see this! I was horrified! I ran down the stairs and Nicola just KNEW something was wrong with her sister. They’re twins, and they are very, very close. They know each other inside and out, and I wasn’t surprised at all that she knew something was wrong with Mina.

She came back traumatised, but safe. Again, aliens were something my mother always told me about. One of her friends was one. I’d met hima few times, and I’m nearly certain he was related to this one. Call it a hunch.

And that brings us to today. It’s Leonardo’s birthday, and also prom night for my two angels. We’ve set up the cake and it should be a lovely day. I feel a little dizzy today, but I’ll be fine. I’ll just grab a glass of water and then go play catch with Mina before the party starts…

***

My mother died.

For real, this time.

It’s Roscoe here, by the way. I know that she wouldn’t want you not to know.

The page didn’t load properly when she hit the publish button. Those words up there were the last words she ever wrote.

There aren’t any death flowers this time. No more time for her.

But I think she wanted it that way. She was happy with life, but I think she was just tired. She was 112.

Ellie got here shortly before her death. We talked. We hadn’t spoken for that long in years.

Roscoe wasn’t there when she died. He was on a class trip at a football game.

We had to tell him when he got back.

It wasn’t a good way to spend a birthday. He was really wrecked about it. They were close. Closer than she and I ever were. But we’ll all miss her. We’re all distraught.

I never thought finally being the head of the family would hurt this much. I’ve thought about it for so long, and now I feel horribly selfish for it. I don’t care if I’m not the head of the family! I don’t need to make the decisions for the family!

I just want my mom.

I feel like a child again. I had very many years with her. I’m nearly an elder myself now. I’e lived with her for so long that it feels so strange. Empty. Without the smell of delicious cooking, or the tinkling of piano keys, or the whirring of the treadmill. The constant wanting to play catch, the oohs and aahs when I finished a painting or wrote a book. She was just so good. That’s her. She was completely, utterly and totally good. That was her.

I feel like such an idiot for not believing her about Riley now. I read her blog. I should have been looking at the signs more rather than spending my time absorbed in my paintings. She sacrificed her garden so Leo could be happy. She just didn’t get a chance to make it happen.

I’m going to spend time with my son and daughters. I mean, I do spend SOME time with them, but not as much as she did. I need to be there for them. Especially Leo.

And I’m going to get that Rainbow gem for him.

I told Mina and Nicola to go to prom. Leo said didn’t mind, as long as they’d eat cake and play video games with him. So they went. Mom bought them prom dresses. She was going to surprise them with them later on today. I showed them. They were very emotional.

The party must go on, really. That’s what we all thought, really. My mother was way too happy in her life for us to be sad with her death. She would want us to celebrate life.

So I watched my son become a man with pride.

Life should be celebrated. I’m sad about her death, but she would want us to be happy about the things that she achieved and the life that she lived. My mother was a wonderful woman. That’s just it.

I’ll miss her so much.

The Farrington Diaries will live on. From my grandmother to her, and from her to me. It won’t die.