The night before Ben's funeral, I had to call in to work to let them know I wouldn't be in. I shouldn't but I felt really guilty. I still feel new there but when there's a death in the family, what else can you do?
I don't think I was in much of a state to work anyway. This has really thrown me for a loop. Ben wasn't young but he wasn't old either. 64 is too young to die and it's brought up a lot of painful memories about my own dad's death, even though the circumstances were obviously different.
Little Josh really misses his grandpa. He was too young to really remember my dad when he died but he's really feeling this.
I could tell Max was taking it hard because he was so quiet and was jumping from one task to another. I had to tell him to sit down and take a break, before he wore himself out.
That was when he really broke down, when he finally took a minute to think.
Caterina...well, Caterina has actually seemed like she's coping well. She's done her share of crying too but being around the family at Ben's wake helped her.
Aphrodite, Ben's sister-in-law, offered to take care of all the food. Just finger food but it was so appreciated.
The kids spent most of the afternoon up in Josh's room playing. Josh needed some levity, so I was glad Kirstin brought her girls.
I spent the afternoon running the whole show. You know, making sure everyone had enough coffee and food, cleaning up, etc. I was run off my feet but this is a big family!
You see? The house was pretty insane.
Olivia brought her boyfriend Steve with her but I think he felt a little bit awkward at times.
He was meeting most of the extended family for the first time, so it's understandable.
It was really sweet of him to come along anyway. Olivia told him he didn't have to but he insisted.
I was really glad to crawl into bed after everyone left, let me tell you. The work I put in was very much appreciated - Max told me that it meant a lot to him before we went off to sleep that night.
After the funeral, we all tried to get back to normal. I had to go right back to work the next day but I made sure I spent extra time with Josh when I got home. I think he's doing okay but I want him to know none of us are going anywhere any time soon.
I think we're all coping now.
Caterina must think about Ben constantly though. I know I would be, in her situation.
About a week after the funeral, I was elected to the city council and Max took me out to dinner to celebrate.
We did a little bit of extra celebrating when we got home and I soon figured out that we were going to have a lasting reminder of the celebration.
I am much more excited about this pregnancy than I was last time. We both are! With Josh, I was just terrified. This baby definitely wasn't expected but we know we can handle parenthood now, at least!
After all, Josh wasn't planned either but Max and I wouldn't trade him for the world now. We're looking forward to meeting our new son or daughter!Notes:
- Title is from Girl Sailor by the Shins.
- Firstly, I am a moron who is unable to do a simple thing like forward dating a post, so Ben's obituary didn't turn up in the feed because it was accidentally back dated to August last year. So here it is!
- Hope no one minded the spam in the middle of this post! I dressed everyone all special for the wake and then didn't really have anything specific to say about most of them! So a little spam, so my efforts didn't go to waste! I won't do a wake with every death but it was a fun little diversion this afternoon.
- Ben's death, as I mentioned in his obituary, was not an ROS but Max rolled one of Round 24's ROS "Family Reunion". I didn't think anyone in the house would feel much like a party after Ben died, so the reunion became a wake instead.
- I invited everyone Ben was related to by blood, plus spouses (and David and Kirstin's kids). I almost invited Madelyn and James's kids, as well as Owen and Naomi's but then I realised I may have gone insane. The house was full enough!
- One of the couples in attendance ended up woohooing in the hot tub and it was not, amazingly, Steve and Olivia. Steve and Olivia did spend the majority of the wake flirting and hugging and kissing though.
- Another oops baby for Max and Zaria. Josh was conceived in a photo booth and this one was conceived in a car. I keep forgetting that ACR birth control doesn't work anywhere except the sofa, bed and hot tub! I think Josh probably would have been an only child otherwise.
- Max got promoted to Celebrity Chef (his LTW) at the very end of this round, so I'll probably have him buy a restaurant too. He's got enough money to buy several!
Aw, poor Josh, losing a grandparent is never fun. Especially not when you're young since it's the first time (most) experience death... I'm glad it looks like things are alright though :)
ReplyDeleteYay! Baby! And I never knew (or I did and forgot) that the birth-control doesn't work for the car or the photo booth! I was wondering (months ago) why my sims kept getting knocked up each time they did it in a car or something! That explains it :P
Valneanne, yeah, this family seems to be coping pretty well. The Clarke-Draper family didn't cope nearly as well with Georgette's death and most of them weren't even related to her!
ReplyDeleteYeah, that pesky BC! The Inteen BC works for everything but I've been switching my Sims over to the ACR one, because I'm trying to figure out (roughly) what percentage of failure it has. Lately, my car (and other places) woohoo couples have mostly been older, where accidental pregnancy is not as much of an issue. But Zaria is only 31, so she's still pretty fertile!
I'm excited anyway! Baby!
My sims always get knocked up in the photo booth. They don't use birth control for the most part-(I just started playing around with it with the new ACR since all my simmies are trying for babies on their own now, but I digress.) and woohoo in the photo booth almost always made a baby. I wonder if the risk of a baby is higher in public places?
ReplyDeleteThe wake was beautiful. Steve reminds me of Pine Hollow's Edwin Chase and vice versa. I always have to get my guys right before I start reading. Ok-red head is Steve, blond is Edwin. It's the hair and old age ;)
I liked the pic spam in the middle. I thought it was very poetic. SOmetimes there isn't much that needs to be said. And I love that you took the time to get the family together and dressed for Ben's wake.
ReplyDeleteRIP Ben. :(
I am so glad you included the "spam!" The clothes were beautiful and it had the feeling of a real wake, everyone dressed up in black and a houseful.It was a nice memorial to Ben.
ReplyDeleteZaria's point of view rung so true to me, the feelings and concerns and all the stuff that needs doing when someone dies.
Oh ACR 2 beta! I didn't know either about the limitations of the birth control. (And in RL I would deplore such ignorance on my part about how babies are made!) There is such a baby boom in Simdale right now. Everytime I look around a couple is trying for baby, even if their family size is set really low.
Aww! I love that you had a wake. I never bother in TS2, but I've done it in TS3 (it actually has a "funeral" party option). RIP Ben!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize the new ACR had birth control! It's a shame it doesn't work for all woohoos, LOL. I've had pregnancy happen on inteen's BC but only once. It's very rare.
Yay for more babies, though! LOL
I enjoyed the wake (well, enjoyed doesn't sound like the right word, considering the circumstances, but I hope you know what I mean, LOL!). Great idea for using that ROS within the story. Aw, little Josh crying broke my heart. :(
ReplyDeleteBut yay for another baby! I'm having a few oops issues with ACR birth control lately. I think I may need to make some adjustments in the override numbers. :\
Apple Valley, I think it's only Max and Zaria that have conceived in the photo booth so far but I think I've used that option more when playing guys and non-resident girls, so that's kind of birth control in itself there!
ReplyDeleteLOL @ you mixing up Steve and Edwin.
Lunar, thanks! I always like a bit of pic spam anyway. At the very least, it's easy to read but you're right in that sometimes words aren't necessary.
While dressing everyone for this funeral, I realised I need more dark, formalish, winter clothes. Like I needed another excuse to go a-downloadin'!
Francesca, glad you enjoyed the spam! I love changing my Sims' clothes, so a task like this was fun for me. I did mean to change Olivia's dress to something else though - it kind of looks like her bra is poking out of the top of her dress, which seems like something she should keep for Steve,rather than wear to her dad's funeral but it didn't end up being that visible anyway!
Even in death, there's still 1000 things that have to be done and Zaria had to do most of them this time. Sometimes it helps the grieving process anyway, keeping busy!
But oh yeah, watch out for that ACR birth control! Don't just rely on the ideal family setting to decide whether your Sims will have a baby or not - that decides the likelihood of them trying, but if they've reached their number, they still try sometimes.
Mao, glad you liked it! Is there a funeral party option in TS3?!? I had no idea! I finally have my TS3 game running and am playing a legacy. My Gen 1 couple is probably close to death's door, so I'm going to have to look for that option on the phone!
Yeah, the new birth control option is under each Sim's individual Pregnancy menu. I've had InTeen birth control fail once too. And it was Max and Zaria! Those two don't have much luck with the birth control. Someone wants them to have a lot of children (and it's not me, by the way!)
Shana, heh, I kind of enjoyed it too, even though they were sad circumstances. It was fun to try something new in the game.
Little kids crying is the worst. They always look so sad!
I've edited my ACR as Laura did and explained in her post a while back but I might play with it and individualise it for certain Sims in game a little bit. Although it wouldn't have changed anything here anyway! I hope ACR is updated to include cars, elevators and the like but who knows if it will be?
I liked seeing pictures of the wake. And I'm impressed that you were able to find so many great black outfits!
ReplyDeleteCaterina seems to be taking Ben's death quite well. Or maybe it hasn't completely sunk in yet.
I'm glad that Zaria and Max are expecting! I've been wondering whether they'd have more kids some day.
The wake was really well done! I love all the funeral clothes! Was that very hard to coordinate? I don't know if I actually have that much black clothing, but I was thinking about the logistics of having a real black funeral.
ReplyDeleteWhich leads me to, man, you've got some great CC clothing! And a lot of it too! I need more, but I just don't have the space for it all on my sad old computer!
LOL @ Steve! That look on his face is perfect! And I love Max and Zaria, so yay for more babies!!! :)
Cissie, thanks! I didn't go shopping or anything, these were all black clothes I already had. I was scraping the bottom of the barrel by the end!
ReplyDeleteCaterina is pretty resilient, apparently. Or perhaps it's as you said, it will hit her later.
I was going to let Josh be an only child, until the game decided otherwise. They don't have it right now but both of them rolled up the fear of a baby pretty often over the past couple of rounds! I find that pretty unusual for a couple with only one child, even for Romance Sims.
Laura, thank you! It wasn't particularly hard to co-ordinate. I did it the slow way - going around to everyone's house and changing them! But I figured out a quicker way if I do it next time (I worked it out when I was changing them into non-funeral clothes at the end). I teleported them in, made them selectable and used the Wardrobe Adjuster to buy and plan their outfits. If you do it that way, the clothes go into their own wardrobes, rather than the current family's.
My load time is pretty long, with all the CC. But I decided a long time ago that I'd rather have all the gorgeous stuff I want than a short load time! But my load time is ridiculously long.
Steve just stood there on his own unless Olivia was with him. He was feeling very awkward. I had her introduce him to any family members he didn't know yet but I had to direct him to interact with them any further!
Aw, it was sad to see the family grieving, but nice to know they're coping well.
ReplyDeleteThe family reunion / wake was still impressive, Scenes with lots of sims looks good on paper, but is very hard in execution!!
And look how much Josh looks like Max!
I am here to also pay my respects to Ben and his family, my girl, Olivia and the whole bunch. Your pics were awesome. I've been planning in the back of my head services for my Mayor when the time comes..and I was wondering how I was gonna find black outfits/suits for everybody, but I have to say you have inspired me. Everyone looked lovely! The whole feeling of the wake was captured beautifully in your 'spam'. I do that too, when I don't have the words. Olivia's beau, Steve, looks good in a suit!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, guys!
ReplyDeletebbop, so true! At least I didn't have to leave everyone selectable though - they could just go around and do their own thing. I didn't push my luck and use the highest speed though - that tends to work the game a little too hard if you're already working it hard!
I just replied to the comments on Ben's obit and saw Max's toddler pic there. I can't believe I ever doubted whether he looked like Max or Zaria - he's Max all over!
Simmington, heh, Steve looks good in everything - Olivia's got herself a pretty handsome boyfriend!
It was the women I had trouble dressing! Suits and dress shirts are hard to get too crazy with but I was looking at my dresses and thinking "Too short? Too low cut?" LOL. But it was fun to do.