January 2019 - Sims

Robert is 43, Nicole is 37, Noah is 8 and Nora is 5.


Narrated by Nicole Sims



I always wake up at 7am to get the kids ready for school.


It's Nora's first year of elementary school, so every morning I walk her and her brother to the bus stop and stay there with them until the bus arrives. I bet Noah's not too excited about this arrangement – he's 8, and claims he's a big boy now.


Once I get back home, I have nothing to do anymore. It's been like this since last August, or in other words, since Nora's first day of school.


Ever since my best friend Tessa moved away from Bristol Bay, I haven't really left the house anymore. She used to take me out on Saturday nights just to relax a little bit and escape from our everyday lives. We still call each other every now and then, but Tessa has already started her new life in Portbridge and is rather busy working as a professional ballerina.


Although I love Tessa, I would never be able to do the same thing as she did. She really hurt her family, especially her daughter Savannah. Savannah is only a year older than Noah and still comes to play at our house every Wednesday. I just can't understand how Tessa could just leave her daughter and her husband and run away with another man. I knew she had never been too happy living here in Bristol Bay, but still, how could a new job and a new love mean so much more to her?


When Robert and I had the kids, I agreed to stay home with them at least until they started school. I had my master's degree in Architecture, but back then, I was willing to put it all aside to start a family. I love my kids, but the truth is, I've been a little frustrated lately. That's why I've started looking for some open positions in the field of Architecture.


I just have so much time in my hands now that both of our kids have started school. We have a maid and a gardener, so there's just not much for me to do around the house.


Robert has been very supportive about this. In his opinion, it would be a shame if all my talent and enthusiasm went to waste. His ex-wife hasn't worked a day in her life, and Robert himself is a very hardworking person. Besides, he agrees with me – there's not much for me to do while the kids are at school.


Financially, there would be no need for me to start working again. Robert's businesses are doing great.


Sims' Family Market pretty much runs itself nowadays. Everyone in Bristol Bay goes there to buy their groceries.


Robert's son Cody and his fiancée Lucy live right across the street from the store. They stop by almost every day and Robert keeps pressuring them to come over and have dinner with us someday. I've always loved Cody, even though he isn't my real son. He always lived with his mom, but he still spent some time over at our house, too. I know it was partly because of our pool, but everyone still considers Cody as a part of our family.


The Family Market isn't the only one of Robert's businesses. That's why he needs to be driving from place to place throughout the day.


There's also the garage, but Robert really doesn't have a lot to do there. His employees take very good care of the place.


There's Micah, whose wedding both Robert and I attended last summer. He and his wife Celeste live in a cute townhouse next to the Sports park.


And then there's James, who's only 20 and decided to skip college. He got the job right after graduating high school. His dad owns a bar and his stepmother is the principal of Bristol High.


As the kids come home from school, they often bring some friends with them. It's actually very nice, since I love children and there's plenty of room for them to play in this big house. During summertime, nearly all the kids in the neighborhood want to come and try out our swimming pool, but now that it's winter, they usually just settle for staying in the house.


Noah is such a sweet kid. He's also very neat and organized, so he likes to keep everything in order. That's not very common among the children that come to our house, so it's nice to have someone to help me out with keeping everything under control.


Nora is only 5, but she has already proved out to be very fast at making new friends.


We bought her a piano for her 5th birthday and she loves it. The greatest thing about it is the fact that she can actually play it. She's constantly learning new songs and wants everyone to hear her play.


Both of our kids are doing OK at school, but Robert and I still like to supervise them while they're doing their homework. We just want to make sure everything gets done and that Noah doesn't help his little sister too much.


It was the last week of January when Robert told me Lucy and Cody had finally accepted his invitation to come over for dinner. We were both really excited and eager to see how the kids would react to the news.


It's no secret that I've never been much of a cook, so Robert offered to prepare dinner that night. I chopped some vegetables but managed to cut my finger, so I finally volunteered to step away from the kitchen.


My first impression of Lucy couldn't have been any better. She was adorable, smiling all the time and seemed to have such a bubbly personality.


Dinner was very nice. Everyone enjoyed the soup Robert had prepared for us - even the kids.


It was more than obvious that Lucy and Cody simply adore each other. In Noah's opinion, his big brother holding hands with a girl was more than hilarious.


After the kids had been sent to bed, Robert and I stayed downstairs for a while to really talk with the lovebirds.


Robert wanted them to know that he'd be more than willing to help them out financially. He even offered to buy them a house near the Marina, somewhere close to ours, but Cody made it pretty clear that it wasn't going to happen. Robert had already paid almost all of Cody's college fees, including the tuition and the very expensive private room he used to live in. But as Robert kept insisting, the four of us finally came to a conclusion – after the wedding, Lucy and Cody would be moving into a small house somewhere in Bristol's Square. It's not exactly in the heart of the city, but it's close to all the schools and the prices aren't as high over there.


I wanted Lucy to know that she could call me whenever she felt like talking to someone. I also offered my help for planning the wedding, even though I was certain Cody's mother had already done the same. His little sister Mikayla is going to be a bridesmaid, so I can only imagine how excited Carol must be. I would've just loved the idea of our little Noah and Nora having at least a small part in the wedding, but I guess it's not the same – after all, they're just Cody's half siblings.


Just as we were talking about all the arrangements, Lucy suddenly got off the table and ran to the bathroom. We could hear all the noises, so we knew exactly what was going on.


“I'll go check on her”, I informed the boys and got off the table.


As I saw Lucy throwing some cold water on her face, I held her long hair back and waited. Once she was done, I opened my mouth: “I'm guessing this is not a food poisoning.”


“No, it's not”, she answered after a short pause.
“How long have you known?” I asked her then.
“About two months.”


There was no need for words. I hugged her, and she hugged me back.


~~~
• This family is currently the richest one in town, so buying a house for Lucy and Cody is definitely not a big deal for them. Everyone in Bristol Bay really buys their groceries at Sims' Family Market!
• Here in Spain, children usually start school/pre-school at the age of 3, but having toddlers crawling on the floors of my school building is just not going to work for my game. That's why in my hood, children start Elementary school at 5, but can also attend pre-school at the age of 4.
• Noah and Nora are such good kids. They're constantly rolling all these wants for doing their homework or talking to a relative. Both of them really liked Lucy.
• In fact, the whole family just loved her! Nicole wants to call her almost every day and Robert had the want of becoming best friends with her.
• The kids would just love to obtain a pet, especially a dog, but I just don't see Nicole as the kind of person to want to have an animal in the house. She's a Family sim, but she likes to keep the house tidy and everything needs to be in order.