Walking to do

Round 26: Winter 2024

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Araminta Romilly is 61, Henry is 59 and Elspeth is 10.
(Trent Kirby is 54, Megan is 52, Ione Moretti is 28 and Finn Romilly and Victoria Kirby are both 23)

Narrated by Araminta Romilly

So out of nowhere this year, Elspeth decided Josh Royce-Nihill was her best friend.

You'd think mere proximity would have made them buddies; they started kindergarten together and have been in the same class ever since. But they never bothered with each other before. I figured they just didn't get along. Elspeth can be a little trying!

Elspeth has been a bit of a loner in the past but she's really coming into her own this year and I'm so happy to see it. Josh is over most afternoons.

She's become a little social butterfly. We're going to have to get Elspeth her own phone soon or completely forget about being able to call anyone ourselves. She's got the receiver glued to her ear.

Her grades started to slip a tiny bit at the beginning of this year.

It didn't take long to figure out why. Up until the end of last year, Matilda used to watch Elspeth after school but now that she's at college, Elspeth is on her own until 4pm, when Henry gets home. That hour used to be spent doing homework but left to her own devices, Elspeth plays video games instead.

It's amazing what confiscating the Playstation for a few weeks can do! Her grades went right back up and she's much better about doing her homework now.

The other day, Finn called to invite us out to dinner with Victoria's parents. Of course, we'll take any opportunity to see Finn so we dropped Elspeth off with Ione and headed out to Exeter.

Elspeth loves going to see her sister, so she didn't even mind missing out on the dinner.

Henry and I both really like Trent but we're never sure what to make of Megan.

She just seems so uptight sometimes, though she's like that with her own family too so perhaps we shouldn't take it personally.

Anyway, we were really more excited to hear Finn and Victoria's news than we were worried about Megan. We were pretty sure it was going to be good news, so we weren't nervous - just excited. No one gathers their family around for a nice meal to reveal bad news!

Finn and Victoria made us wait until our food came before they made their announcement but finally they told us - they're engaged!

The rings probably should have given it away but we weren't looking for them. Finn asked Victoria just a few days ago and they wanted to tell us all together.

Henry and I were just thrilled to hear that! They haven't started planning much yet but they're looking at getting married the summer after next, so they have plenty of time.

I know Finn has had some problems with Victoria's mother - he's not sure she likes him too much - so I was watching Megan closely for her reaction. Surprisingly though, she seemed quite happy about the news. She even suggested the wedding be held at their farm. It's a beautiful place and it would save them some money.

That's the kind of offer Finn would normally refuse - he looks at that sort of thing as charity, which he has trouble accepting. But he's looking at it as a peace offering from Megan, so he agreed to it. Victoria loved the idea too - her parents and grandparents both got married on the same farm, so it has sentimental value for her.

After dinner, we had some champagne brought over and Trent made a toast to Finn and Victoria.

I'm so glad the dinner went well. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction for our families. We're going to be the one family now, officially, so it would be nice if we could all get along!

We couldn't believe it when Megan hugged Finn goodbye at the end of the night! I'm feeling really optimistic about this now but I hope it's not unfounded.

When we we got back to Sullivan, we headed straight over to Ione's to pick up Elspeth. Finn gave us the go-ahead to tell his sisters, so we'd planned on telling them straight away.

Ione was excited, just like we were when we heard. I guess some would say Finn and Victoria are very young to be taking this step, but we've sort of all been waiting for this since they graduated! We wouldn't have been surprised if they'd got married while they were still in college.

Elspeth wasn't as interested in the news as we thought she would be. Maybe she's growing out of that sort of thing. She couldn't wait for Ione's wedding!

I think she must have just been too tired to care because the next day, the wedding was all she'd talk about!

Elspeth is a little disappointed she won't be in the bridal party this time - Victoria's sisters will be her bridesmaids. But she's already talking about getting a new dress for the occasion, which is something I'm going to have to start thinking about for myself!

Notes:

• Title is from Walking To Do by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I don't really know what that video is! Grooveshark is down.
• Finn and Victoria's wedding will be in Summer 2026. I'm going to have the wedding and the reception at the farm. I'll temporarily move them in just to get married and then plop them back in their apartment when they're done (Declan and Caitlin will act as placeholders). It worked pretty well with Lia and Gordon, so I'm not foreseeing any problems, fingers crossed! I've already got almost everything picked out for this one. :D
• I was going to have Elspeth be a flower girl again and then I realised she'll be a teen by the time Finn and Victoria get married! Can't believe it - wasn't she just born yesterday? I'll just leave the bridesmaids as Claudia and Rebecca though, or else I'll have to find another groom's man for Finn, and I kind of just want to leave it at Jacob and Calvin.
• Megan at the restaurant was all autonomous! I couldn't believe it when she hugged Finn. Unbelievable. But they became friends over dinner (finally!) so hopefully, they'll get along a little better from now on. I've noticed that Sims with diverging interests seem to be smarter at choosing conversation topics they'll agree on once they're friends, so we'll see how they go!