March 4th, 2013
Lyric was ten years old. Randi couldn't believe it. She was obviously well beyond her years, but Randi could still baby her. She kicked open Lyric and Ireland's bedroom door and brought a tray of food in.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Lyric. Happy birthday to you." Randi sang. Lyric grunted from beneath her blanket. "Wake up, Sleepyhead."
"Go away." She mumbled.
"No such luck. I made you breakfast in bed." Randi said. Lyric peeled the blanket away from her head. She had a smile upon her face, "Ten years ago today, I was miserable. I was a week late with my second daughter. I was still setting up house and business. I went to eat in the kitchen when my water broke."
"And your favourite child entered the world." Lyric said sitting up.
"One of my favorites." She winked playfully. "Pancakes and bacon." Lyric tucked her napkin into her pajamas.
"What'd you get me for my birthday?" She asked.
"That will have to wait." Randi smiled.
"You finished my dress right?" Lyric asked.
"I'm trying to sleep." Ireland mumbled from the bed next to her.
"I had to suffer through your birthday breakfast." Lyric said.
"Fine." Ireland snuggled in her bed.
"Let me show you your dress." Randi slid off the bed and grabbed the dress from the hallway. She held it up. Lyric's eyes widened.
"It's a strap dress." Lyric's grin nearly broke her face in half, "It has no sleeves."
"Well, you're in double digits now and we really have to celebrate." Randi lay the green dress on her daughter's bed, "You like it?"
"I love it." She said, "Thank you so much." Randi beamed with pride. She liked it when she could make dresses for her daughters.
"Good. We will be downstairs. Come down when you're ready princess." Randi left the room in a breeze. Ireland sat up in bed and looked at Lyric.
"I'm borrowing that dress." She said.
"If I can borrow that blue one." She said. Ireland frowned.
"That's an award show dress." She said to Lyric who shrugged her shoulders.
"Could careless." Lyric munched on the bacon. Ireland growled and slid out of bed.
"Can you believe it, Dave?" Randi asked as she washed the dished. Dave didn't look up from his paper.
"Hmmm?" He mumbled.
"Can you believe our children are getting older?" She looked at him, "That means we're getting old."
"We're not old." Dave said finally putting the magazine down, "Aging is a normal part of life. We are raising six amazing human beings. It's our job to make them the best they can be and set them out into this world for them to do some amazing work."
"And they will." Randi sat next to him. "We have some great children."
"Words don't describe how great they are." Dave patted her leg.
"Mom, I'm wearing the dress." Lyric ran into the kitchen. Randi's breath stopped in her throat. Was that her little girl? Without sleeves, you could see the muscles in her arms and shoulders. The green material clung to the right places (or was it Wrong, for Dave it was all the wrong places).
"It's perfect." Randi said pulling Lyric over to her, "Are you having a good day?"
"Wonderful day. Thank you." She said. Dave cleared his throat.
"I think I have something in my pocket." He said.
"What?" Lyric's eyes began to twinkle.
"I'm too old and arthritic to reach in my pocket." He groaned. Lyric giggled and ran over to his side. She reached into his scrub shirt pocket and pulled out a box.
"What is this?" She asked.
"I'm too blind to see." Dave said. Lyric opened the box that contained a white gold chain bracelet with a single music note on it.
"Oh Daddy." Lyric whispered.
"A small note for my beautiful lyrics." Dave said taking the bracelet out. He clasped it around her small wrist. "I love you, Princess."
"I love you too, Daddy." Lyric said as she threw her arms around Dave. Randi smiled. God had really blessed her with an amazing family.
March 11th, 2013
Randi stared at her computer screen looking at the charts of finance of all her stores. Eight stores, eight lines, eight different colours, and they were pretty much all going up.
"How's it looking?" Misty asked walking into the office.
"Every store is going up, but our Boston one. That's staying steady." Randi said.
"At least it's not going down." Misty said pulling up a chair, "Maybe we should send them some more winter stuff. They've had a worse winter than Chicago."
"Maybe." She shrugged, "We're windier though."
"Unless you work down town between all those buildings." Misty told her partner and friend. Randi nodded with agreement.
"Do you ever feel like yore running around in circles with this business?" Randi asked. Misty nodded.
"Well of course. We have less control over what happens now that we have so many stores." She said, "Maybe we should have a conference sometime with all the managers."
"I like that idea. We can get their ideas and input." Randi said standing up. "Good one." Randi rushed out of her office leaving Misty to fend for herself. "Dave, do you think you could help me?"
"With what?" He asked poking at his turkey bacon. He missed the real stuff.
"Misty just proposed an idea that I think will work. We're going to have a meeting of the minds type thing." She said. "Invite all the managers of our stores and factories and have like a weekend conference thing." Dave nodded.
"That sounds good to me." He said sitting at the kitchen table, "What do you need me for?"
"To look sexy." She said and then began to laugh, "No. I need you to find a space big enough."
"Okay. How many people is that?" He asked her. Randi thought for a moment.
"About fifty-five people." She said. "Let's shoot for September. Maybe we can launch a new line there. That's such a good idea."
"Like sweaters and ponchos." Dave said.
"Ponchos are so 2004, Dave." Randi glared at him. Dave chuckled.
"I know nothing about fashion. Just that you do it and you're hot." He said. Randi rolled her eyes.
"Get on that, Dave." She walked back into her office where Misty was at the computer. She looked up.
"I'm thinking a mass postcard mailing." She said to her partner, "I'm designing one right now, but we send it to all our managers and stuff. I'll make a special email account so that way people can confirm. Oh, we want to charge right?"
"Yeah. I'm not paying for the conference hall." She said, "Thirty per person could work. No make it fifty for two days. We need to feed them too." Misty nodded as she typed on the computer.
"I think that's a good deal." Misty said as she typed on the computer again. "What do you think September for it?"
"That's what I told Dave." Randi chuckled.
"Weird minds think a like." She said.
"Exactly." She said. This had been a terrific idea. It helped to know what her employees wanted. They worked with the people. They knew what the people wanted and inturn, that was what Randi wanted.
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