Additional Author's Note:
This diary entry has been edited to match the "By a Simple Twist of Fate" timeline more appropriately. In my earlier version, I assumed that the family went to Ingleside in July each year. After examination and consultation with kslchen, I realized that the summer reunion occurs in mid-August. Thus, there are several small revisions throughout this entry to better reflect that their reunion is a month from now, not a week from now.
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July 2011 (Anne wrote this diary entry about two or three days before the events recorded in chapter 23 of "By a Simple Twist of Fate")
Dear Diary,
Why do I always do this to myself? Heading to Ingleside for our summer reunion is NOT a last-minute addition to my calendar. We go there every August like clockwork. I block out the dates in my calendar nearly a year in advance. So, why am I always crowding too many things into the weeks before we leave for the Island?
I am actually on schedule for finishing up my school obligations (yay!), but then I just had to go and complicate things by promising to get some revisions to my editor prior to the family reunion. She knows me well enough to not believe my story that I will have quiet time during our time in Ingleside. Quiet time? In that house? With our brood? It IS rather laughable. Seriously though, I think I will at least plan out my personal deadlines for the revisions first thing tomorrow morning since Rilla will be arriving mid-afternoon. (Although Rilla is just one person more in the flat, she adds a liveliness to the place that isn't here with just Shirley and Gilbert around.)
Oh, and to add one more thing to my immediate schedule…I offered to provide a meal tomorrow evening for our downstairs neighbor since her husband is finally being released from hospital tomorrow. I am thankful that Mr. Martin has recovered from his surgery so quickly! Since I plan to make roast chicken and vegetables for our meal, I will simply make a larger quantity so that I can share some with the Martins.
Diary, I am sincerely hoping that Rilla will FINALLY tell Gilbert about Ken during her visit here this summer…and sooner rather than later! When I promised her in December that I'd let her be the one to break the news to the family at her pace, I certainly didn't expect to be withholding information from my patient husband for seven months! And while she is in the "talking about Ken" mode, I also would really like her to tell her grandparents and her brothers so that we can all just speak freely about everything again. That would be nice! I plan to pin her down about this straightaway tomorrow after she arrives. However, I'm sure she is anticipating my intentions and will probably try to keep herself in the company of Gilbert or Shirley so that I won't have the privacy to bring it up. But let me tell you, Diary, if needed, I WILL invite myself into the guest room even if she's already fallen asleep…after all, "necessity is the mother of invention"!
Thinking of unpleasant talks that Rilla will try to avoid, I know that Gilbert also plans to have a "university and beyond" conversation with her before we leave for Ingleside. She has got to be aware that the subject is hanging out there – just waiting to be brought up. I've had the feeling that her studies have really suffered this year due to Ken occupying a lot of her free time. I hope that she has at least passed all of her courses! In any case, Gilbert and I both have concerns about the fact that Rilla will be starting her final year of university in the fall and she still doesn't seem to have a career direction in mind. We don't expect her to follow in anyone else's steps and choose a career path that isn't "her," but it would relieve both of us to know that she's at least considering her post-graduation future. (Of course, I'd also like to know how Ken fits into her future, so that is why it is probably best for Gilbert to have this conversation with her so that I don't mix up the two subjects!)
On a different topic, I want to thank you, dear Diary, for being such a good storehouse of information. After forgetting to bring several things to Ingleside in December, I decided to make my "must remember to bring these items" list in your pages. So…today it was quite simple to look back at my December entries and recall that we really must bring Gilbert's backup pair of glasses with us this time…need I say more about that debacle? My notes also reminded me that we need a replacement toaster for the kitchen. Joy will be very pleased because she insists that the old one hates her personally – it either never heats her bread…or completely burns it to a crisp!
With Rilla joining us, book revisions, and school things, I'm not sure how much time I will have this week for long entries in your pages, but hopefully I will be able to at least write "she told him…finally!" (I wonder what his response will be…learning that your daughter is dating a future king is not an everyday occurrence!)
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Author's Note:
As I was reviewing chapter 23 of "Twist" before writing this chapter, I couldn't help but enjoy the delicious irony that kslchen included in Rilla's internal reflection on Gilbert's words. ("More likely, I'm going to spend my days answering phones and filing papers while my siblings write their names into history books.") Little did Rilla realize at that point what would happen just a few months later…
Did you pick up on that line, too, when you first read "Twist" chapter 23?