Over it over again

Round 32: August 2036 (Winter)

last update/next update

Jace Novak is 79 and Magdalena is 72.
(Gordon is 40, Lia is 39, Maia is 34, Ethan is 30, Annabel and Georgina are both 12, Gabriel is 9, Willow is 10 months old)

Narrated by Jace Novak

I already worked much longer than I ever wanted to, so I finally made the decision to retire. I’m still in good health and seeing I’m getting close to 80 now, I want to enjoy some more leisure time.

I thought we’d seen the last of the snow, so I spent my first few days of retirement tending my garden.

That was all for naught, unfortunately. We got some more heavy snow, so I think I’ll just wait until spring before trying to grow anything else.

Instead, I’ve been spending my days making flower arrangements. It’s one of my favourite things to do.

When I retired, I also turned over the ownership of Rosa Lucida to Maia but I don’t think I’ll ever giving up flower arranging.

Magdalena was a bit worried about me completely retiring, mainly from a financial standpoint. She’s not miserly, but she likes to have more of a nest egg than she thought we’d have if I stopped working.

But we own our house outright and our daughters have been out of the house for many years now (over 20 years, in Lia’s case!); we really don’t have much in the way of expenses. My pension easily covers our needs, with plenty left over as well.

Now Magdalena is talking about retiring herself. She’s going to wait until the new owner gets settled in and then give her notice. It will be very nice when she finally does. It gets a little lonely here during the day.

Watching Willow helps that a lot. I really enjoy looking after her.

Maia is still on maternity leave but now that she’s learning the business, she needs someone to care for Willow a couple of days a week. I am more than happy to take on that role!

It’s been a long time since I’ve been around such a young baby though and it’s sometimes quite the relief when Willow dozes off.

I often feel like a nap myself by that time, so I move Willow to her pram and lie down for a little while.

Maia has really adapted to motherhood, which makes me so happy. Willow sleeps through the night now, which makes things that little bit easier.

Willow’s first birthday is in a couple of months and at that point, Maia will need to go back to work at the events planning firm, which may throw things out of whack again.

Maia isn’t too worried; she says she will hire a manager to take care of the business side of things, so she won’t need to be on site as much.

I guess she could. The store is profitable enough that she could easily afford to. I was too stubborn to hire a manager and I ended up working myself pretty hard!

Even knowing that Maia will probably be very busy soon enough, I still can’t help but wonder when Maia and Ethan will give us another grandchild.

I've hinted but they're not saying much about that topic. They’ve both said they’re considering a second but they haven’t said anything about when.

Magdalena is keen for another grandchild too but she’s being far more restrained about it this time and not nagging Maia about it.

She’s even scolded me for being pushy, which is pretty rich coming from her. She was just as bad as I was before Willow was born!

It’s our poor granddaughter who has to deal with Magdalena’s nosiness these days. Annabel mostly humours Magdalena when she asks her for the millionth time whether she’s got a boyfriend yet.

Poor Georgina though. Magdalena asked her the same question last time we saw the girls and she looked so embarrassed.

I don’t think Magdalena will ask her again. She’s nosy but not cruel.

Gordon has told us the girls won't be allowed to date for a few years yet anyway.

They’re really going to have to keep an eye on Annabel! I can imagine her becoming completely boy-crazy within a year or so, if she’s not already.

I’m relieved Gordon and Lia are being strict with that sort of thing. I don't know if I can take the idea of the twins dating.

I could never stand the thought of some boy trying to get his hands on any of my daughters either. Sometimes I'm still amazed that I ever got over my beef with Gordon.

Gordon and I get along very well these days and have done for years now.

It turns out our parenting philosophies aren’t so different. Now that Annabel and Georgina are in high school, he understands exactly how I felt when he and Lia were dating.

I'm sure it's a relief that Gordon and Lia have a few more years before having to deal with Gabriel dating.

Gabriel is still such a kid that it’s hard to imagine him dating or taking an interest in girls. I guess it’s a product of being the youngest.

Last time they visited, Lia and Gordon told us that come April, Gabriel would no longer be the baby of the family; Lia is 10 weeks pregnant!

I’m sure I don’t have to say how delighted Magdalena and I were to hear that news! This will be our fifth grandchild.

Gordon is thrilled. He always saw himself with four kids and was a little disappointed when Lia wanted to stop at three.

Lia is excited too but she has some reservations as well. The baby wasn’t exactly planned, so it’s really taken her by surprise.

Pregnancy was tough on Lia the first two times and she’s afraid it’s only going to be much harder on her now, almost 10 years since her last baby.

She’s also been reading all sorts of things online about the increased risk of miscarriage for women of “advanced maternal age”. At 39, Lia now falls into that category, so she’s worrying herself sick about it.

There’s not really any telling Lia once she starts fretting about something but Magdalena tries. Lia is very healthy and cautious and has no previous history of miscarriage, so all she can do is hope for a very boring nine months.

Notes:

• Title is from Over It Over Again by She & Him.
• I had meant for Jace to retire like a hundred times before now and this round, he rolled the want to retire. It was like he was saying "Please! I'm almost 80 and you have me working as a fashion photographer and running a florist!" So I had to give in, lol!
• I still haven't transferred the business to Maia officially, because I was too lazy to go through all that tedium of moving Maia in with her parents, and then back in with Ethan last night. But it will be hers soon.
• Lia and Gordon conceived this baby in their car outside the Claudette, after their date in their update this round. BC failure! It didn't fit in to the update, seeing Georgina wouldn't have known, so I wrote it in here instead. I'm kind of hoping for a girl who looks like Lia this time.
• No baby yet for Ethan and Maia but he has rolled a want for one. I didn't think he'd hold out until Willow's first birthday. That Family secondary is strong!