Truly great thing

Round 33: February 2037 (Summer)

Susannah Carmody is 27 and Zac Whitney is 3.

(Kimberly is 66, Sarah is 32, Rebecca is 28, Sam is 27, Audrey is 25 and Catherine is 3)

Narrated by Susannah Carmody

Sam and I had a few awkward months of living together once we broke up but for over a year now, it’s been just me and Zac.

I’m disappointed things didn’t work out with me and Sam, because it would have been nice for Zac to have both parents together. But I wasn’t in love with him and I’m now positive I made the right decision to end things.

I was pleasantly surprised at my mother’s reaction. I really did think she’d gloat, because she never liked Sam and she was never shy about telling me.

I don’t think she would have been quite as supportive if Sam had dumped me - that would have just given her another reason to dislike him. But as it is, she’s been fantastic.

Things are a lot better between me and Mama as a result. It’s a relief to not constantly be butting heads with her any more.

She has been mercifully silent about Sam. No questions about his job or anything else and no criticism. I don’t want Zac to hear anything negative about his dad, so that’s exactly what I want from Mama.

These days, it seems like she’s on the same page with me. She just likes to make sure Zac and I are doing okay.

And we are. Zac and I aren’t doing too bad on our own.

Zac was still so young when Sam and I split, so he doesn’t remember things being any different.

It’s harder for me, I think. If Zac feels like throwing a tantrum, I’m the only one around to deal with it.

I’m thankful that his tantrums are few and far between. He’s a really good boy most of the time.

Zac still sees his dad every single weekend. Sam picks him up on Friday afternoons, before I leave for work and takes him for two nights.

Zac loves his dad so much and I know he enjoys every second of his visits.

They do so many fun things together. Sam’s taken him to the aquarium a few times, which Zac cannot get enough of.

Even though I know Zac is having a great time, I still dread the weekends. The house is so quiet without Zac around.

I really miss him when he’s not here. I don’t know what to do with myself until Sam brings him back on Sunday afternoons.

I’m glad that things are amicable enough between me and Sam that the pick-ups and drop-offs aren’t too awkward. Sometimes Sam even stays for a coffee before he gets going.

I admit though, that things are a little bit weirder now that he’s dating someone. I’m not jealous but it’s still strange to think of him with somebody else.

He told me last weekend that he and Julia are talking about getting a place together, within the next few months.

That surprised me but it’s been going well between them. It’s the next natural step.

He wanted to run it by me, seeing Zac will be seeing Julia a lot more than he does now. When he goes to see his dad, he’ll be going to see her as well.

I actually feel okay about that. Julia has kind of a reputation for being a bit nuts in our social circle but she’s always been fine with me.

Most importantly, Sam says she and Zac really get along too.

Audrey and Rebecca took me out the next weekend, to celebrate my 27th birthday and I told them Sam and Julia’s news.

Predictably, Rebecca was horrified and thought I should “put a stop to it”.

I don’t think I’ll be doing that. I trust Sam’s judgement. He wouldn’t do anything he thought would upset Zac in any way.

Rebecca is not quite rational when it comes to Julia anyway. She’s one of the loudest voices proclaiming Julia’s craziness but Rebecca can hold a grudge just as well as Julia can.

I think they probably have more in common than she would care to admit. It’s best not to dwell too much on Julia when Rebecca is around though, so fortunately, we had plenty else to talk about!

I got a promotion to sous chef recently, so it was sort of a double celebration. It’s going to mean more money coming in, which is very welcome.

Sam is awesome about child support but neither of us make a ton of money. It’s still hard to make ends meet most months.

I was very jealous when Audrey told me about Jack’s trust fund, which is going to let them buy a house together, with probably a good bit left over as well.

He won't have access to the money until the day he turns 25, which is not for a couple of months. But still, that is so exciting!

I would love to be in a position to own my own place one day. It’d be so nice to not have to worry about rent any more. Not to mention to be able to paint the walls or put up wallpaper! As nice as my landlord is, she doesn't allow tenants to change too much of the decor.

It would be a challenge to save for a house on my salary but I’m hoping this won’t always be a single income family. I would still really love to get married in the future.

Things didn’t work out with Sam but I’m still a romantic. Sarah’s been married for almost seven years now and she and Nick are so happy. I hope I can have that one day.

Zac would love a little brother or sister too, based on what he’s like when Catherine comes over.

They’re only a few months apart, so they have a fantastic time together. He’d really enjoy having a playmate around all the time.

Plus, Sarah and I are so close and it’s been so valuable to have someone who shares all your childhood experiences and memories with you. I want Zac to have that too.

So when I go on a date with someone, I keep all that in mind. I don’t tell them all that upfront but I do mention Zac. Some of them go pale just hearing I have a kid.

That’s usually a good sign things aren’t going to work out. Zac and I are a package deal and I need someone who’s okay with it.

I don’t want to jinx it but I think I might have finally found somebody like that. His name is Daniel and we’ve been out a few times so far.

I always internally cringe before I tell guys about Zac, hoping they won’t freak out. Daniel was surprised but I don't think he was too bothered, thankfully.

Every time we talk, we always seem to find something else we have in common. Daniel majored in art at university, just like I did.

He eventually wants to get his Master’s and become an architect, like Sarah did. Not only that, but at the moment, he happens to be working on a construction site for a building she designed!

He’s just a really lovely guy. We can talk for so long, with no awkward pauses or anything. Daniel is kind of a brain, so he seems to know a lot about everything.

I haven’t let Daniel meet Zac yet. It’s a bit early for that, so Daniel’s mostly been keeping me company on the weekends, when Zac is with Sam.

Things are going well though, so who knows? If our relationship heads the way I’m hoping it will, maybe I’ll introduce them sooner rather than later.

Extras:

No, your eyes are not deceiving you; Zac does look completely different than he did last round. What happened was that before Sam and Susannah got together, I did genetic plastic surgery on him to remove his Goopy-like features. Recently, I tried to change his hair in the mirror and found that when I did that, his face went all Goopy-like again (the same thing happened to Zane and Chloe).

So I remade them all and while I was at it, I grew Zac up to see if he actually looked anything like Sam. No. No, he didn't. So I made a new Zac with CAS clones of Sam and Susannah. Old Zac must have inherited Sam's original Goopy face but this Zac is a proper mix of Sam and Susannah's genetics. And is much cuter, if I do say so myself. Here is some spam! Don't mind those two weirdos in the matching dresses in the background. They are out there constantly, always on the swing. I find it a little unsettling, honestly.

Notes:

• Title is from Truly Great Thing by Sebadoh.
• Ugh, I am so glad to just get this update out! I would have had it up two days ago, if not for my desperation to "save time", which always ends up wasting time. It's way too boring to go into but I'm very relieved to be finished with this!
• Susannah rolled the You Deserve Better! ROS this round. I think this was the first time I rolled that one for a single Sim. Anyway, I was always planning to let her start dating again this round but I was going to let her date around a bit more, rather than pairing her up with her highest chemistry match right away. But the ROS thought differently, so along comes Daniel. He's a CAS Sim I turned into a townie a long, long, long time ago. The attraction score is 119, so they have 3 bolts.
• There are lots of complications when dating with children but being that Susannah is a very optimistic type, I don't think she'd dwell on them too much. She'd worry about them when/if they crop up. ;)
• Julia and Sam have been together for almost a year now, so I'm going to move them in together. And add them to the play schedule! I forgot to do that at the beginning of the round. I'm not going to do the same living arrangements I did with Nick with Zac, where I had him living one year with Abigail and one with Caleb. A visitation set-up seems much more realistic.