Close your eyes

Round 30: January 2032 (Summer)

last update/next update

Emil Collins is 60 and Anna is 54.
(Nathan is 22 and Hope is 21)

Narrated by Emil Collins

Our kids have both been out of the house for a few years now and we're officially empty nesters. Our old house was too big for us, so we downsized. It definitely wasn't a downgrade though. It's a wonderful house and it already feels like home.

The kitchen is quite small but neither Anna or I are all that interested in cooking anyway. A small kitchen is fine for us.

There's a wraparound deck going around half the house. At the front, the view is amazing. We're right across the street from a huge park.

It's quite relaxing just being at home, if you ask me but Anna wants to go on vacation.

I would love to go, one day but we just can't afford it right now though.

It's still Anna's favourite topic of conversation at the moment.

I suggested we could go camping and save on the cost of accommodation but she wasn't too impressed with that.

I was only kidding. I know no one could ever get Anna to go camping but she doesn't have much of a sense of humour about things sometimes.

Since I turned 60, I decided to just give into the grey hair. I thought 60 would be a scary age but I don't feel too different and I think I still look good.

Meanwhile, Anna is only 54 and she's already worried about aging. She's constantly inspecting her face for new wrinkles.

I've learnt to ignore her when she asks for my opinion. If she's in one of those insecure moods, she usually thinks I'm lying anyway. I don't have any patience for that kind of thing.

Anna and I have been getting along better than ever and I don't feel like getting into petty arguments with her.

Both of us work weekends, so we take advantage of our nights off during the week and go out on dates, which we haven't done in a long time.

We've really been enjoying ourselves lately. It's nice having the kids out of the house.

I've also been trying to see more of my siblings. It's been a long time since I've made the effort to see them regularly.

I wasn't expecting any more nieces and nephews but my sister Amelia had baby Michael recently, so I have yet another nephew - my seventh nephew, to be exact.

For a time, I really wanted a third child but I could never talk Anna into it. Now though, I'm glad that stage is over for us. I'm content to be an uncle and eventually a grandfather. That is likely to be a long, long way off. Neither Nathan or Hope are ready to start families yet.

Nathan just finished university and is about to start law school. Guess who'll be footing the $16,000 bill? I've been looking into it and we can handle it. We've had to take out a loan but if we watch our spending, it's doable.

Anna does most of the spending in this house but I've explained our new budget plan to Anna and she's agreed to make cutbacks.

But I don't know what Anna thought I meant by "cutbacks". The very next night, she was showing me a new nightgown she'd bought. I mean, she did look great in it but it was hardly a necessity.

We really need to get this sorted out though. Nathan starts classes next month and the first installment of his tuition is due this week.

Nathan's so excited about starting. I think Julia's getting truly sick of hearing him talk about it.

He's got a part time job as a legal secretary at my sister-in-law Kirstin's firm. He's anxious to start practising but he knows he's got a lot of work ahead of him.

Nathan has been delurging Kirstin with questions and I think she's a bit overwhelmed. I've never seen her as the mentoring type.

Hope still has another year left of university, so we have her tuition to consider as well. When she graduates, she's planning on going into natural science.

It wouldn't have been the career I would have guessed she'd be interested in. But my stepfather got her into gardening and then it all developed from there.

I'm not privy to any of the girl talk but Anna generally fills me in on it later. Which is how I know now that Malcolm is desperate to get back together with Hope.

This has thrilled Anna. I can't figure out why Anna likes Malcolm so much, other than the fact that he's going to medical school but she does.

Thankfully, Hope is saying she's not interested in dating anyone at all right now, so Malcolm (and Anna!) is out of luck, at least for now.

I just wish Anna would stop encouraging Hope to take him back. Hope is too good for Malcolm.

Anna thinks I'm being ridiculous and that Hope will do whatever she wants to do, no matter what either of us say.

Maybe she's right. Hope certainly did what she wanted when she was a teenager, so there's no reason she wouldn't know she's a grown woman. Whoever Hope ends up with, I'm just going to have to deal with it but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

Notes:

• Title is from Close Your Eyes by Jump Little Children.
• I don't know why, because they never did it at the old house, but Emil's siblings drop around constantly. Especially Evan. I half felt like banning him from the lot but I didn't have the heart. Emil goes out and greets him autonomously; I guess his family side is coming out more now that he's older.
• Anna and Emil seem to have settled in well to their new-found monogamous arrangement. Usually, they roll generic/multiple romantic wants but they were rolling them all for each other this round. I'm telling you, I think Emil has softened in his old age!
• Hope has zero romantic wants for anyone at the moment. I've never seen that with a Family Sim. They usually roll the Fall in Love want as soon as they break up with someone.
• Nathan better appreciate this law school tuition his parents are forking out, because they are $10,000 in debt because of it! That was actually one reason I moved Anna and Emil out of their old house. They would have been much further in debt had they stayed there.