#jupiter lobo

Dear Diary,

For Christmas this year, we visited Sulani to stay with Uncle Jupiter. It was the craziest Christmas ever! All my cousins were there - Evan, Brad, Misty, Nicole, and Cedar. I'm used to spending the winter holiday walking around on slushy streets, but instead, we were swimming and surfing! When there was a storm, we hung out inside and played games while the rain came pounding down outside. It was so cool, I wish I lived in Sulani, but Mom says university first.

I reunited with my big brother Jupiter in Mt. Komorebi to finally attempt the challenge I've been training for my entire adult life - summiting the mountain. One last hurrah before we're both a bit too old for things like that.

It wasn't easy. In fact, it really was one of the most challenging efforts of my life - and I'm a national leader! I don't think we could have made it through if we didn't know each other so well - even after so long apart. Whenever I felt myself starting to slip, he would shout to me that we were going to do this, that we couldn't give up, that we wouldn't get another chance.

For Christmas, we drove all the way up to the commune. Thistle still lives there, though in a new building closer to the access road. She still seems happy, despite her circumstances. Unbeknownst to us all, she's just had a baby with some drifter. She'd really make Mama proud. She's named it Cedar.

For lunch she served us some ungodly lentil creation. We weren't the only ones to make the trip - Will (formerly Sparrow), his wife Lucia, and daughter Nicole were there, and even Jupiter came all the way out from Sulani. He's on the mainland for work, anyway. It's strange to see him, though he hasn't changed much - still hippie to the core.

The original commune buildings are too dilapidated to live in anymore. I went up to get a look at them, all run-down with roofs caving in and windows boarded. It's strange - I really hated this place, but when I saw it like that, I wanted to fall down in the snow and just cry.

I can’t believe how fast it all went by! My final grades weren’t quite perfect, but I’m satisfied with them - they’ll get me a good job with a good salary, and that’s what matters. 

I invited Mama and all my siblings to graduation...but it’s such a long way, I didn’t expect any of them to come. But they did come. And they didn’t wear their usual hippie crap - they looked nice and presentable. I guess mama lifted the household ban on non-hemp fabrics, at least temporarily. God, I’ve never seen Mama or Thistle so dolled up. And Jupiter came too, all the way from Sulani! I still can’t believe it. I’m so glad they were here. And mama said how proud she was - I didn’t expect to hear it. 

I introduced Bella to her as my friend...I wonder if mama can tell that there’s more going on? If she can, she didn’t mention it.

Sparrow’s moved to the city, and he’s living with his girlfriend, Lucia. They visited recently, looking for my blessing to get married. I’m not the oldest child, but with Jupiter off in Sulani, sometimes it feels like I am...

It was a small ceremony. I was surprised that Thistle, and Jupiter’s family chose to attend - but it is a big deal, I suppose, Sparrow getting married. Even for hippies and beach hippies. 

Granite Falls Commune Family Portrait

Dear Diary,

Mama always said that public school was an awful place, where the big kids pick on the little ones and they make you write essays about why you love the government. So I was sorta scared for my first day...

But it turned out the school is actually really fun. Growing up out in the woods I only ever played with my siblings, but here there are kids my age to talk with. And they know so much more about the world than I do! They buy clothes at the mall, and watch shows that mom says are ‘too violent’, and some of the older guys even have cars. 

And they’re just as interested in me as I am in them! They knew there was a ‘crazy hippie family’ living out in the woods but they’ve never gotten too close. They wanted to hear about everything - the cabins, the farm, and everyone living there. They were really excited when I told them that mama grows pot in the garden!