Ailana’s Journal—2026-07-09 (and Island Kids) (Patreon)

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GOOD MORNING by Ailana Geven Keller

Thursday has arrived, and Jason, Kel, Emily, and I are taking the day to explore Lowell, where Jason and I grew up. The Banks are driving the Everetts to the airport today while Josh and Geoni visit with Josh’s parents.

I guess you could say our summer road trip is winding down. Or wrapping up. Or that we’ve wound up the trip. I couldn’t decide what to say, and naturally, that got my brain into that weird place it goes sometimes. Sorry in advance—especially for those translating this from English to a different language!

Why does winding down and wrapping up mean the same thing?

Why can you say, “The meeting wound up on time, and everyone left,” or “The meeting wound down quickly, and everyone left,” and have both reference its ending?

Why is “wrapping something up” and “getting wrapped up in something” so different?

If I get wound up about something, my mood is on the rise. If a story gets wound up, it’s coming to an end.

Or you can lose track of what you were trying to say—then you would have wound up lost. I don’t know how I wound up here, so I guess I should just let things wind down and wind up this post.

I promise, the rest of today won’t be like this!

Meanwhile, it might look like I’m standing beside a field of corn. Locals might say it’s a massive Indiana cash crop! Indiana farmers planted about 5.4 million acres of corn in 2025—more than one-fifth of the state’s land area.

Welcome to Lowell, Indiana, home of the Red Devils!

Seeing a field of corn is one thing. Driving beside one that stretches literally for miles is a different experience—something Emily never saw in Las Vegas.

“It’s literally like being in an ocean of corn,” she said. “The trees on the horizon are like the shore.”

She’s not wrong.

See you soon.

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EVERGREEN PARK IN LOWELL by Ailana Geven Keller

We stopped here at Evergreen Park before we hit the Burger King for lunch. I wanted to check in quickly.

Evergreen Park is just off the main road through Lowell—Indiana Route 2, which follows Commercial Avenue through town. It takes so little effort to get here that it was one of the places Dad and I visited frequently. We’d even stop here in the winter just to walk around a little.

This is one of the places where Dad often lived out his habit of picking up trash others left behind. He kept grocery store bags in the car, and whenever we stopped to walk, he’d grab one and carry it along.

I guess I just assumed that was what normal people did. I was probably a sophomore before it firmly registered with me that some people were leaving behind the trash Dad and I were picking up.

Some of you have pointed out that he’s probably the reason I have the give-back attitude I keep saying is important. When we get home, I’m going to focus on making that more than a claim.

For now, I’m going to wrap up. Or wind down. Or wind up the post. I don’t know what I’m doing.

See you after lunch!

BUCKLEY HOMESTEAD by Emily Amos

If you read about Ailana growing up, you know that Buckley Homestead is, like, ingrained in her. This is one of the places she and Jason came to pretend they were taking pictures of things just so they could be together. They say that, looking back, they were low-key dating for a long time before they called it that.

So, Kel says I think of my life as chapters in a story, and he’s not being mean—and I guess he’s not wrong. He says I also plan like a storyteller—still true—so there’s a point to me wanting to eat at Denny’s. I’m not going to say exactly why, but it’s a just-in-case thing now, in case something happens later.

Kel wanted me to model for him, so why not? Jason helped him with the camera a little, but Kel is telling me how to pose. It’s kinda fun because it’s him and me messing around.

Standing here, I’m getting an up-close-and-personal discovery of corn. Buckley is right in the middle of a sea of it. I can see, like a mile away, there’s a road, then past the road, another ocean of corn.

Buckley Homestead is one of those places where you think, okay, we’re going to look at old farm stuff, and then somehow it’s actually peaceful and interesting. Def doing a Yawn Meter article here, so Jason has to write the travel piece to go with it!

It’s a Lake County park near Lowell, Indiana, and it feels like stepping sideways into another version of life. There are old buildings, open fields, farm paths, and that quiet country feeling where your brain finally stops opening seventeen tabs at once. I liked that it wasn’t trying too hard. It was just there—old, real, and kind of beautiful.

Kel had me sit and pose for a few pictures, too.

According to Jason, I’m about to have a second discovery—an up-close-and-personal discovery of chiggers.

Kel says he didn’t think about that when he had me sit in the grass.

Stay tuned for more discoveries!

SHE SAID TO HEAR HER OUT by Ailana Geven Keller

Buckle up! A lot happened at Denny’s.

As we walked in, Emily said to Kel, “This is where Jason and Ailana came the night they finally agreed they were dating. That was before their senior year.”

She asked if I knew where we sat, and Jason and I agreed it was along the front, not in the corner. She wanted to sit there, so we requested that.

I felt like she was up to something, so when the server left the table, I looked over at her. “What’s going on?”

“Okay,” she said, “hear me out.”

I looked at Jason. “This sounds bad.”

Kel answered. “She thinks it’s cute. It’s a just-in-case thing.”

“What does that mean?” I said.

“Okay…” Emily held up her hands like she was selling something. “So… like the night you and Jason made it official, you were here. Then, twelve years later, you got married.”

“Not liking where this is going!” I said, shaking my head and laughing.

“No… For real,” Emily said, “Kel and I are only starting our junior year, and we’re already official, but think of the story… Just in case we do get married…”

“Emily!” I held up my hands like I was begging. “You’re sixteen and you’ve only known each other for a month!”

“More like six weeks,” Jason said.

I looked at Jason. “Doesn’t change anything!”

Emily was waving her hands. “We’re not saying we will. I’m just saying that if, like, twelve years from now or five or something… if we ever get married, we can say we sat in the same booth you two sat in when you made it official.”

I let that spin through my thoughts long enough to realize it definitely had a Hallmark Christmas special vibe.The young couple visited where the older couple had made it official a decade before they married. Then a decade later, the young couple also got married.

There’s a lot of disconnects, but I can see where she’s going with her idea.

“So it’s just in case,” Emily said finally.

“Not a plan?” I asked.

Kel shook his head. “Not yet.”

I looked at Jason with my eyes bulging. I’m not ready for this!

GOOD NIGHT by Emily Amos

Ailana said I should do the good night post so you guys won’t think Kel and I are crazy. This might not convince you of that!

We sat in the foyer where everyone could see us—but no one was watching. They were all in the living room.

“So, Ailana doesn’t think we’ve lost it?” Kel asked.

“Nah,” I said. “She said she gets it. But your ‘not yet’ threw her!”

“Yeah, I saw that.”

“What did you actually mean, anyway? Like, I know we’re not engaged.”

“I meant,” he said, “like, they were where we are back in 2014. They were going to be seniors, but… yeah… so, eleven years later, they got engaged. Anything could happen.”

“That’s what I thought,” I said.

He smiled and took a deep breath. “But look… Almost surely the judges are going to make my adoption permanent and you’ll get to stay with Ailana and Jason. So, we’re going to be in each other’s face all the time. Either we’ll get closer and closer, or we’ll end up knowing we can’t stand each other. And…”

I waited plenty long enough for him to finish, but he didn’t. “And what?”

He shrugged. “And what we decide we want can make a big difference… I dunno. But we’re definitely not saying marriage couldn’t happen.”

“We’ll have to see,” I said. “If we go to different colleges…”

We can decide to go to the same one if we want,” Kel replied. “Josh and Jason have already talked about paying for college for us. Clay brought it up when we were golfing. Clay says he’ll scholarship us like he’s doing with Jasmine’s nursing school.”

“Wow,” I said.

“But, like, anyway, we’ve got two years to figure that out.”

“Yeah…” I said.

Kel pulled out his phone and showed me something he found on the internet. “Arranged marriages report significantly lower divorce rates (typically estimated at 1.1% to 6%) and high, lasting marital satisfaction.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Like, they just decided this is it and 95% of the time it was.” He shrugged. “It’s way more complicated, but it’s something to think about.”

“Ailana won’t believe we had this conversation.”

AFTERTHOUGHTS by Ailana Geven Keller

I started this post in a different robe. This one seemed serious enough to fit my thoughts…

So… about Denny’s.

I want to be very clear that Emily and Kel are not planning a wedding. Nobody is booking a chapel. Nobody is shopping for rings. Nobody is making a spreadsheet.

At least, I hope nobody is making a spreadsheet.

What happened today was more like Emily realizing that stories need places, and then trying to give one of her possible future stories a place before she knows if the story will ever happen.

That is very Emily.

She has spent a lot of her life without safe roots, so when she finds a place that feels safe, she marks it. When she finds people who feel safe, she holds on. When she finds a moment that might matter later, she saves it like a pressed flower in a book.

Then Kel, being Kel, took her sweet little just-in-case idea and somehow turned it into a serious foyer conversation about time, adoption, college, proximity, choices, arranged-marriage statistics he found online, and how “not yet” is very different from “no.”

I am still recovering.

But honestly?

I’m not upset.

I’m watching two sixteen-year-olds be young and dramatic and hopeful, but I’m also watching them try to be respectful. They wanted alone time, so they sat in the foyer where everyone could see them. They talked about someday without pretending someday is tomorrow. They are not as ready as they think they are, but they are more thoughtful than I expected them to be.

Maybe that is the part that got me.

Jason and I had our own Denny’s booth once. We had our own not-yet season. We had our own years of growing up before the story became what it is now.

So I’m not going to panic.

I’m going to breathe, pray, supervise, laugh when I need to, and remember that love does not always arrive fully grown.

Sometimes it starts as two kids sitting on a marble floor in a foyer because they want to be close, but they also want to be trusted.

Good night.

Be your best you!

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