September 21, 1978

I shot up from my original lying down position in bed. I let out a slight yell of alarm, then placed my hand over my chest to try and calm my beating heart, and let out a heavy breath. I looked around anxiously and let out a breath of relief when I finally could see what- or more like who- had scared me awake.

KJ and Sky were both on their hands and knees on the surface of the bed, Keith sat on the edge of the bed, laughing hysterically at the entire scene that had just played out in front of him. I wondered if the whole "wake Rain up and scare the living daylights out of her" plan was all his plan at that point. I loosened up a bit, anyway, and let out my own laugh. KJ and Sky had large smiles on their faces, and I couldn't help but smile at their happy faces.

"Happy Birthday, Mama!" KJ grinned, exposing the empty space between two of his bottom teeth, where'd he'd recently lost his first tooth.

"Happy Birthday, Mama," Sky repeated happily, and held out a sunflower in front of her.

I gently took the flower with a smile, then opened my arms wide. "Come here, you two," I smiled. The two both rushed across the bed and against me into my arms, and I hugged them tight to my torso, making sure to make a mental note of how this felt for the future.

Keith stood up from his spot on the edge of the bed, then next to me. He leaned over and planted a small kiss on my right temple. I gave a small smile as he said, "Happy Birthday."

I personally never got excited about my birthday. It wasn't that I didn't like it or anything, I just never really saw the point in making a big deal about it. It just wasn't my thing. Sure, I cared a great deal about other people's birthdays, just not my own. Like I said, my own birthday was never a big concern to me. And ever since I got married and had kids, I didn't have time to care about my own birthday, but rather just focused on all of their birthdays.

But I'd be a liar if I said I didn't appreciate those little birthday things they'd do.

"Well," I yawned once my heart was beating normally again, "That's a way to wake up, huh?"

"I'd say so," Keith agreed with a laugh.

I looked over at the clock and my eyes widened for a moment when I saw that it said 6:50am. "Did you wake them up?"

"I was already awake," KJ cleared up, "And Sky woke up by herself."

"Alright," I breathed out, "Well, since it's early, and it's Thursday, two of us have work, one of you has school, and one of you has to go to Grandma till I leave work."

"The flower," Sky reminded me, pointing to the single sunflower that laid on my bedside table.

I looked over at the flower, then back at Sky as I picked it up. "We can all go down to the kitchen, and when we get there, we'll get some water for the flower. How's that sound?" She nodded happily at my idea, and I gave a small smile.

Both KJ and Sky got up off the bed, then me and Keith. KJ and Sky ran out of the bedroom together and in the direction of the kitchen, Sky doing her very best to keep up with her big brother. I took the flower gently in my left hand as they ran out and got up from the bed. I started toward the exit of the room after the kids but stopped and jumped up a bit when I felt a hand grab a hold of mine and pull me back. I let out a slightly alarmed yelp when I was spun around once, then collided against Keith's torso, his arms around my snugly.

"What in the world was that 'bout?" I chuckled.

"I didn't want KJ and Sky to see," Keith shrugged.

Before I could question, he pulled me right up against him and pressed his lips onto mine. I didn't hesitant to kiss back, and my arms instinctively moved around his neck, my elbows rested on his shoulders. I started to lean back a bit carelessly, and he moved forward with me, then we moved back up to our original standing up positions. We finally pulled apart from each other, but our heads and faces were still close to each other.

"What was that for?" I breathed out.

"Happy Birthday, Rain," Keith smiled.

I smiled back. "Just to make sure, you do know how old I am, don't ya?"

"Twenty-nine."

I let out a slight groan. "I feel old. I don't like feelin' old at twenty-nine."

"C'mon, Rain," Keith tried, "You're not old. Time just flew by, that's all."

"Do you feel old sometimes?" I asked curiously.

He shrugged. "Once in a while, sure."

I really did feel old. It didn't always occur to me that I was an adult. To be honest, it all felt like a dream sometimes. At some points, I'd get a bit anxious and nervous that it was all a dream, and that I'd wake up and be thirteen or fourteen again, still living with my parents. I'd get scared that all the people I cared about and loved- especially Keith, KJ and Sky- would all have just been a dream, and I'd be left heart broken. Did it make me seem negative? Yeah, probably. But I couldn't help it.

The rest of the day kinda flew by. Both Keith and I went to work, KJ went to school, and Sky went with Mrs. Mathews till I left the radio station to get her. All throughout the day, I received birthday wishes from people I knew all too well. What I found funny was that, at some point during the morning radio show, we got a call- which wasn't unusual. What was funny was that I figured out that the call came from Sandy's bookstore. After we greeted the caller, I could hear four familiar voices yell, "Happy Birthday, Rain!" When I asked to confirm that it was Marilyn, Cherry, Evie and Candy at the bookstore, they all began to laugh and didn't deny their action, and were completely proud of it.

After leaving the radio station, I just acted like it was a regular day. It's not that I was just ignoring the fact that it was my birthday, I just didn't particularly care. I just went about my business as usual as if it were a regular day. I saw no problem with it, personally.

Later that day, after I picked KJ up from school, Sky from Mrs. Mathews and finished all my errands, I went home. When we got back to the house, Keilah and Emmett were in the living room, waiting. I gave them a questioning look as KJ and Sky ran to greet their aunt and soon-to-be uncle. They both wished me a happy birthday, despite me still being confused- but not disappointed- by their surprise appearance.

"What're you two doing here?" I asked curiously.

Keilah picked up Sky while KJ played around with Emmett. "KJ and Sky are with us for the night," she answered, "MY brother wanted you all to himself tonight, he said. He told me to tell you to be ready to go by 6:30."

Before I could as the two anything, they had KJ and Sky ready to go. The four all left, leaving me standing alone in the living room. I ran my hands over my face as I took a deep breath, then walked to my bedroom in defeat. I had no idea how to dress right now, so I just put on a nice pair of comfortable jeans and a button up blouse with the sleeves rolled up. I combed out my hair, put on a pair of boots, and grabbed an old but warm leather jacket.

By the time I finished getting ready, Keith walked into the bedroom, not dressed too differently than I currently was. I turned to him and we smiled at each other. A few minutes later, the two of us left the house.

Apparently, when he did for my birthday was that we just went out and had fun. What we did were things that a couple who was still dating would probably go out and do. We went all over the city, doing and trying things we either hadn't done in a while, or had never even tried. In all honesty, it felt great to do things like that again. It'd been a long time since we'd gotten a chance to do anything like that, so it was a nice thing to do for once with just the two of us.

At some point, we just walked through the city together. I stopped walking and looked over at Keith. He gave me a questioning look as he asked, "Somethin' up?"

I shook my head carelessly. "Nope," I answered then gave a serious look, "I just wanna say thank you for everythin'."

"For today?"

"No, I mean for everything."

He understood what I meant, and just smiled down at me. "Happy birthday, Rain."

There's only one more chapter in this story, and it's technically an epilogue. I cut this story short, one: cause if I let it continue, it would take too long. two: I didn't like how this story was coming out, and when a writer doesn't like a story they're writing, the writing is not their best work, so everyone loses. So yeah, there's one chapter left- the epilogue, and a family tree guide of the original story characters, their kids, and their kids. Three generations will be seen.

That final chapter will be up somewhere in between two to four weeks. Peace from all the hippies of the world.