A Few Summer Events

- A formal dance. Due to popular demand, Mandy decided to plan another formal dance at the church. She and a few of her friends did the decorating themselves, and they asked people to bring the food. That day, Mom and I spent some hours in the kitchen and dining room preparing the food; we contributed some some ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, some baked crackers, and a tray of fruit. I nearly had a fashion emergency when the blue dress that I bought for last year's formal dance refused to zip up (problem with the zipper, not with my waist); I was not happy with the prospect of wearing something that wasn't formal, but Mandy finally managed to get the dress to work, much to my relief.

The dance itself was very enjoyable. We had a good amount of people and, for the first time at any dance, we had an equal amount of guys and girls. I managed to capture some videos of the event, but I was out on the dance floor quite a bit and did not get a lot of variety of the dances. I also had the rare opportunity to dance the complicated Scottish dance "The Clumsy Lover," the only time that night it was done; unfortunately, no pictures or videos were taken of it, though I was told I did a good job at it, despite missing a few of the steps. We danced for quite a long time, and my feet were killing me afterwards. Still, it was worth it.

- Mandy and Ben are still courting. Ben has become a regular fixture at the house, and he has become almost like a fourth child in the family. Lately, he has started his teaching again, and so we are seeing less of him, which is weird because we have gotten so used to him. We got a good laugh out of it yesterday when, while we were at a church wedding, Mandy ended up catching the bouquet; apparently Ben got a good chuckle at it too when Mandy called to tell him about it.

- Mandy has a job. Her first day is tomorrow, but she'll be working for an insurance company. The job is not too far away from the house, and another plus is that she'll be working with two guys who go to our church so she won't be alone at the job either.

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