Final Memories

“Hey Kat, are you guys doing anything Monday morning before you leave? I was thinking we should all have breakfast together.”
What a great idea Aaron!
Leaving the hotel at 6:30am with Victoria who had stayed the night, we arrived at the McCurdys bright and early. While Victoria stayed outside for a few minutes to talk to Julia, I entered the house to find a bunch of kids still in pjs and teenage girls rubbing the sleep from their eyes as they prepared the kitchen for the huge feast we had to prepare for the 3 families who were coming to Aaron and my farewell breakfast. We were leaving for Jax in just a few hours and Aaron left for college 2 days later.
The recognition that this was to be the last time I would see my friends for more than a month, and Aaron for more than 3 months, was present as I entered the kitchen and gave the normal greeting hug to Katy. I smiled at Jessica as she smiled and said good morning and chuckled as I heard Katy exclaim “Kait! You weren’t supposed to bring anything!”
I glanced down at the bacon I held in my hands.
“Sorry it couldn’t be thrown away and it wouldve been a pain to move!” I said with a smile as she continued to scold me. Little did we know how much laughter would erupt because of that bacon.
Aaron and Danny strolled into the room.
“Hey Kat, how ya doing?” Aaron asked as he walked into the kitchen.
“Doing good!” I replied as I watched Danny go straight to the counters to see if anything had been cooked yet and needed his expert taste testing. Dismayed to find that the girls were still trying to find all the ingredients and utensils needed for the ginormous breakfast that had to be prepared, he turned to me and said “Hey Kait. What’s up?”

Victoria finally made her entrance with Julia, and within 5 minutes, the rest of the Whites walked in the door.
Andrew ran off to find my brothers who were having a great time destroying Danny and Aaron’s room while Spencer talked to Danny in the living room.

After a while, we had lots if pancakes made and eggs were on the way, so it was time to make the bacon. Aaron’s job. Which turned into Aaron’s and my job. Which turned into Aaron’s, Victoria’s, and my job.
I suppose I should start when it was simply Aaron’s job, which didn’t last very long, which is a good thing for the consumers of the bacon.
“Aaron, what are you doing? You can’t microwave bacon!” I said as I teasingly shook my head back and forth in disapproval.
“That’s why I’m getting out the pan!”
“Okay good. Just making sure you aren’t ruining our food.”
“Aww come on, you can trust me with your food, right! You trust me!” Aaron said as he put on this goofy grin.
I replied with a blank stare. “Yeaaaaah. I’m just gonna stand right here.” I said, leaning against the counter next the stove.
“Fine.” he said as he turned back to the bacon that was now in the pan, faking a frown.
I glanced over to see Jessica and Katy attempting to make eggs on the skillet.
“So is bacon good crispy or bendy? Look at this bacon from the microwave! Katy told me to cook it that way; bacon isn’t supposed to do this!” he said as he held out a piece of bacon and it flopped over. “It should stay out straight! Right?”
“Yes!! Floppy bacon is no good!” I said, pretending it was a very serious matter.
“Yes! Thank you!” Aaron said with satisfaction.

Many things occured in the process of cooking the bacon, but since I know that no one wants to spend the next hour reading every detail about the day, I shall skip the casual conversation and get right to the action.
“Umm Aaron…are you wearing oven mitts while cooking bacon?” I asked as I returned from talking to Katy on the opposite side of the kitchen.
“Well the bacon’s oil is trying to kill me! I must protect myself!”
“Have you ever tried turning down the heat?” I asked as I reached over the boiling oil vat which contained a small slice of bacon in it to turn the heat down. “Or have you ever heard of being tough? Seriously!” I said as I laughed at his rediculous protection gear.

Aaron gave me the look, and went back to cooking the bacon. I’m not quite sure how Victoria came into this, but I think that she thought that Aaron was going too slow so she, to speed things up, decided to microwave bacon also.  So in the end we had three people working on the bacon: Victoria with the microwave, Aaron with the pan, and I with my scrutinizingness, making sure that Aaron didn’t burn the house down.
After about an hour, or more(I can’t remember exactly), breakfast was finally ready and we had a nice selection of food- Grits, eggs, bacon, pancakes, and banana bread. My parents arrived from doing some last minute work as we got all the kiddos served.

Eventually us teenagers got our food and settled down in the family room for a nice, quiet, and relaxful meal. YEAH RIGHT! We were all laughing our heads off the entire time, barely eating at all! I only ended up getting buried in pillows, which Aaron, Danny, and Spencer shoved onto me, despite my protesting. I laughed as the pressure of three guys shoving pillows on me stopped and I noticed I had this tiny little hole in the middle to peek through. Haha!

After eating, we all got together for the girls favorite thing and the guys least favorite thing; pictures.

Thanks to Katy’s great idea, we did a pyramid also!

Danny and Aaron had to leave right before we did to do lawns, so after an awkward moment of not really knowing how exactly to say goodbye, Aaron suddenly yanked Katy over and put her between me and him…a Christian homeschooler hug.

It was quite surprising, but brilliant, I must say! Of course I had to “homeschool” hug the other guys-

After the homeschool hugs, us girls all said our farewells, too.
Of course, with Victoria we had to do the dramatics.

 

And then with Katy…

And Jessica.

That last morning was so much fun. Aaron; thanks for the idea! Thank you McCurdys for being so generous and offering your house! Thank you Whites for…being cool! Love y’all!