Ailana’s Journal—2026-06-15 (and Island Kids) (Patreon)

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GOOD MORNING by Ailana Geven Keller

Well, this actually feels like what I thought married Mondays would feel like. I think everything today will be all right. I think everything today will be alright.

Jason is wandering around the condo looking for his boxers, which may or may not have been left in the dryer since whenever we last started a load of laundry. That’s one theory, anyway.

I’m having coffee, so he stopped to take some pictures for the post.

It feels, all at the same time, alive, new, and comfortable.

I still feel like I’m in over my head. I’m not sure whether I’m going to be a good wife and guardian-sister. But I’m definitely going to do my best. And, if I’m honest, Jason and Emily make it all a lot easier.

I’m digging into my work for today. Most of my time will be writing, editing, planning to write, and planning to edit. Jason and I are going upstairs to have lunch with Geoni and Josh. I’ll check in from there and let you know what’s going on.

After that, I’m taking Emily clothes shopping. I said I wanted her to have a few cute, casual dresses for our Route 66 trip, so we’ll make that happen.

Meanwhile, I should tell Jason where I hid his boxers!

See you later.

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All characters in this story are fictional characters, their images generated with AI for AGI Stories. They do not represent any real person, nor is their appearance based on any real human.

PROXY PERMISSION by Ailana Geven Keller

I’m here with Geoni in her condo. As you can see, Kel and Emily are entertaining themselves. There seems to be a major social event unfolding in the Snap group.

From what I’ve overheard, Jenna and Gabe went on an ice cream date, and it went well enough that they’re now “trying things out” socially.Stand by for more on that… Back to you, Josh.

Josh and Jason ditched the living room to review feedback from one of their editors on something they wrote earlier this year about Mobile. Before they disappeared into the other room, the four of us had a chat with Emily and Kel.

I’ll sum it up. Clay and Micah observed that the teens were around all of the adults very frequently. Clay had asked Kel if he wanted to ride with him down to the marina and knock the spider webs off the boats.

“Let me ask Josh.”

That led to an updated SOP for Kel and Emily.

If they’re with one of the other adults and decide they want to do something, they can run it by that adult and work out the details. Then, if the adult approves, they can text their official guardian something like, “Micah said we could go down to Beach Club (a store near the condos) and look at clothes.”

The idea is to spare the official guardians some back-and-forth texts—Where are you going? When will you be back? Who’s all going?

We can assume “Micah said” means he asked all those questions face-to-face. Of course, the official guardians can still wave off the idea if need be.

We think it will work and give them a little more independence while still keeping eight adults involved—their two official guardians and six trusted backups. We’re not trying to operate like one collective family, but where cooperation makes sense, we want to keep things simple.

I’d love to know what you think about that idea.

A LEAD IN THE WORKS by Vanessa Lenen

First of all, let me give you a little blessing. May you have the courage, strength, energy, and confidence of a five-year-old who has a Batman Band-Aid on his boo-boo!

I have one cool thing to share and one mundane detail. First, the boring stuff.

The lawyers say we can do trivial care without opening a formal chart and without billing. There is a long definition of what qualifies as trivial. Here’s the parking-lot version: something a mom could do if she were in her own home, so long as nothing is given orally.

That’s not exact, but it’s the concept. We can do those things without opening a full medical chart or charging for the service. Think splinters, minor scrapes, and lotion for a mild sunburn. However, we do have to get written medical consent and check the adult’s ID. Lawyers!

Here’s the cool thing.

I found a grant opportunity for a regional trauma follow-up service. They want a doctor or nurse practitioner with trauma experience to provide follow-up care for patients in the region who have been discharged after serious trauma, such as car wrecks and workplace injuries.

It’s an incident-based billing program. I’m thinking we can apply with the idea that our friend from Health For Humanity, Dr. Olivia Overmark, could serve as the staff physician who takes the cases as they come in. It’s not far afield from what we’re doing with the Shoreline Outreach Mobile Clinic. Not exactly the same, but in the same ballpark.

Also, regarding Olivia, I talked to David about getting her affiliated with his group and allowing her to take some PRN shifts in the ER. That is always in demand.

Both he and Olivia are eager to move forward with that.

That’s it from here. I’ll let you know as things unfold.

Message from AGI-Stories…

I'm very excited by a few arcs that are developing! One of you has asked some questions and made some suggestions—shared some concerns even. I'm writing with at least four of the situations in mind.

As I do, I like to develop things realistically, so keep your eyes open! I've got a few twists in the works, and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you!

WE MEET AGAIN by Sofia Torres

I’ve mentioned before that I came to the U.S. in 2025 and that, by August, I had a green card. I have an aunt here, Maria Torres, who was already a permanent resident living in Brownsville.

I came partly to build a new life and partly so I could send money back to my parents. I’ve been able to do both, thankfully.

When I said goodbye to my family, my father gave me a little bag containing a few American dollars, some snacks, and an old flashlight.

“It was your grandfather's, and I want you to have it. Remember who you were, but be who you can become.”

Last night, sometime after midnight, the power in my apartment went out while I was sleeping. I don’t know why that woke me up—the sudden silence, maybe.

Clearly… I had to get up because sleeping without power seems impossible for reasons I cannot explain. I got Grandpa’s flashlight. The batteries were weak, but I found my way to the bathroom and then back to the bedroom, where I dropped the flashlight and broke the bulb’s filament.

I decided that, after work, I’d see about finding a replacement. Los Fresnos is a nice little town with a Walmart Supercenter, so I thought I’d try there. I walked in about half an hour ago hoping for some luck and wanting to pick up some shampoo and toothpaste. I did that first, then started looking for a flashlight bulb.

The first place I checked was hardware. They said my light looked like camping gear and sent me to sporting goods.

That’s when this story really begins.

The rest of this chapter is exclusive to Patreon.

As I approached sporting goods, I first saw a little boy sitting on the floor reading a magazine. Super cute!

Next, I saw an employee approach the little boy. “Did you buy that?”

The little boy looked up. “No… I’m just looking at it.”

The employee turned to another employee. I recognized the second man as the Dairy Queen guy with the blue truck and green driver-side door. “You can’t let him just sit there and read that. This isn’t a library.”

The name tag reminded me his name was Ryan. “Is that in the junior manager trainee manual somewhere? We can’t possibly let children read a magazine?”

“He has to buy it first.”

Ryan looked at the kid who was closing the magazine, and shook his head. “Don’t worry… Hang on.”

Ryan grabbed a second copy of the magazine, rang it up, and paid for it himself. Then he put the second copy back on the shelf and handed the kid the receipt. The kid understood, smiled, and said thank you.

Ryan looked at the manager trainee. “All good?”

The manager trainee frowned and shrugged. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

Ryan nodded. “I make a lot of mistakes. Sorry about that.”

That was when he noticed me lurking. He pointed toward me and said to the manager trainee, “I’ve got a customer…”

The manager trainee walked away, and I approached Ryan. “That was kind.”

He shrugged. “We should be trying to get kids to read more, not less, right?”

I nodded.

“How can I help you? I guess you’re not here for a milkshake…”

His smile was a little disarming, so I pulled Grandpa’s flashlight from my backpack. “I broke the bulb. The man in hardware said maybe you’d have something.”

“Let’s have a look.”

He examined the bulb, then checked the stock, but nothing matched. “It’s an old bulb. They don’t put these in new flashlights.”

“It was my grandpa’s. My dad gave it to me when I came here from Matamoros.”

“Well, this bulb isn’t something we’re going to have hanging next to the batteries anymore.”

“So I’m out of luck?”

Ryan smiled. “I didn’t say that. How about this? Do you trust me enough to leave the bulb with me? I know a guy who loves this kind of challenge.”

“You know a flashlight bulb guy?”

He smiled. “Not bulbs specifically, but Peter will probably know, like, ten obscure eBay listings and a few secret corners of Amazon. I can get the info to him and let him give it a try.”

I took another look at the guy who had just bought a fishing magazine for some kid who was probably in fifth grade. The bulb was broken, so I had nearly nothing to lose.

“What will it cost me?”

He shook his head. “I’d guess finding it will be the fun. It probably won’t cost more than a few bucks, plus shipping. Can you drop back by in a couple of days? I’ll call him now and see what he can do.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded, and I agreed.

He put it in his vest pocket as I turned to walk away. I took a step, then turned back. “I’m Sofia.”

That put a smile on his face. “I’m still Ryan. I work again Wednesday. I should know something by then.”

So, I’m putting the fate of Grandpa’s flashlight into the hands of some guy named Peter—a guy Ryan knows. And I guess I’m coming back to Walmart in a couple of days.

GOOD NIGHT by Ailana Geven Keller

Monday has ended before the to-do list was completed. But it’s fine. There’s another day tomorrow.

Emily picked Italian for dinner. We’re at another place we’ve passed by for over a year and never visited. We need to check out more places!

Accomplished from the list was shopping for Emily. We purchased a few casual dresses for her and some sandals and shoes to go with them. She couldn’t stop thanking me.

We also talked about her continuing to work for Kaylee as needed to make some money of her own. I’m not opposed. I talked to Kaylee about it and made sure she knew the job had to work around Emily traveling with us when AGI goes on trips. Kaylee said she understood and would only schedule her when she was available.

While we’re talking about Kaylee, I should tell you that Naomi called to say she wants Jasmine and Kaylee in Dallas for a shoot on Thursday. She insisted it would be fine for them to go by themselves without me.

“It’s for the company doing high school and college fashion, and the shoot is pretty small. It’s some urban cowgirl collection. The photographer is running the shoot. They’ll have to do their own hair and makeup. It should feel a lot like what you’ve done with them.”

So, they’ll head to Dallas Wednesday night and be gone all day Thursday.

Circling back to Emily—she agreed to watch Hudson on Thursday so Isaac can work as planned. He’s going to bring Hudson to the condos, so Emily will have all of us around to help her.

I honestly don’t feel stressed about any of that. It feels like what we’ve been growing into, talking about, and planning for. Having Emily makes it a little different, but not in a bad way.

So that’s about it for today. Let me leave you with my default closing tonight.

May you grow attentive to the world and the people within it—learning what matters, choosing what is good, and acting where you can. May you become more fully yourself, offering help when it is needed, caring for creation, and leaving each place better than you found it.

Good night.

AFTERTHOUGHTS by Ailana Geven Keller (Supporter Exclusive)

I made it through a Monday. It was productive, though not as productive as it should have been. I did much of what I’d planned, but plenty of unexpected things came up, too.

Jason found his boxers after a few minutes of the “you’re getting hotter—you’re getting colder” game. He thought it was cute and threatened that next time he’d just go commando.

I’m definitely considering making that happen.

We’re having fun being married. We’re free to do silly things and laugh about them.

And together, it feels like all the challenges are just going to roll over and submit to us.

I still worry that I’m not doing it right. He says that just doing it together is more than good enough.

So, here’s to pushing onward, learning together, and growing.

Thanks for being part of my journey.

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