Weird divide

Round 35: February 2042 (Summer)

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Lachance 2 household profile

Jonas Lachance is 64 and Tatiana is 59. 

(Dominic is 32, Leslie is 31, Audrey and Jack are 30, Edward and Lucy are 27, Brendan is 19 and Oscar and Stella are 2)

Narrated by Tatiana Lachance

This has been an especially busy start to the school year for me. I’m still principal but am also back in the classroom, this time with the older kids.

We lost Finn this year when he became principal of the high school, so I’ve taken over his class. I’d forgotten how hard it is to do both jobs, so I’m really looking forward to being able to hire a new teacher eventually. 

Selfishly, I’m glad Dominic hasn’t been able to talk Leslie into another baby yet. It means she’ll stay at school with us for at least another year.

One day, I really would like to see them have another though! I admit I do remind them of that every now and then.

Jonas and I have really enjoyed our first foray into grandparenthood with Oscar and Stella. 

Dominic and Leslie can have all the date nights they want, because they always have two willing babysitters here. We usually take the twins once every few weeks or so and we love having them with us. 

Stella is a little angel but Oscar really keeps us on our toes. He likes to go “exploring”.

His exploring sometimes leads to him getting into things he shouldn’t, so we really have to watch him. 

I’m not sure where Oscar gets his adventurous streak from but he definitely got all his looks from Leslie. It’s hard to see anything at all of Dominic in him.

Stella is pure Lachance though. We’ve both had moments where we’ve looked at her and could almost swear we were looking at Audrey!

Brendan doesn’t start class again for another couple of weeks, so he’s been staying with us, sleeping in his old bedroom.

I love having my little boy at home again, even if it's just for a couple more weeks.

Not that he’s so little any more. He’s a great uncle to Oscar and Stella and I can see he’s going to be a wonderful dad one day too. 

He doesn’t even turn 19 until next month, so it’s probably a while off yet. But time flies, so his time could come along before I know it. 

We haven’t spent as much time with Brendan as we might have imagined, because he’s off doing something almost every day. 

He spends his days catching up with his friends, plus he goes to see his girlfriend who he met on campus this year. He split up with Georgina almost a year ago and he paired up with Amanda pretty soon afterwards.

Jonas and I have been curious to meet her ever since but it wasn’t until this summer that we finally did. 

On the night, we ended up having Audrey and Jack over as well, just so all attention wasn't focused on Amanda. 

In retrospect, I guess Amanda could have found meeting four new people pretty confronting as well but the dinner went quite well anyway. It was quite casual and low-key.

To be honest, I didn’t really want to like Amanda. I loved Georgina and was sad when Brendan broke up with her. Secretly, I was hoping they’d get back together.

But I ended up liking Amanda a lot more than I expected to. I think Brendan was wondering whether he’d ever get her to himself at any point in the future.

I guess he might have, had he not gone out to play with Jonas’ RC helicopter after dinner, with his dad and Jack. 

We girls decided to stay inside and chat for a bit instead. With Audrey being due in a couple of months, the main topic of conversation was the baby!

She and Jack recently threw out their list of names and started from scratch, because they just couldn’t agree. She won’t share names just yet but she did say they have definitely decided now, which is a big relief for them both.

We were already all invited to go around to Audrey and Jack’s place next weekend for lunch and to see the nursery, so Audrey invited Amanda along as well. It should be a nice opportunity to get to know her a bit better.

They have a great house for entertaining huge groups, like our family. Jack was very fortunate that his parents set him up with the trust fund that let them buy it.

I wish we’d been able to set Edward up like that. Dominic and Leslie didn’t struggle too much but Edward and Lucy are finding it very difficult to buy a house.

They were always planning to continue living with Chris in their flat for a while after they got married but it’s looking like that will be so much longer than they expected.

Lucy’s job isn’t very well-paid and although Edward is due for a promotion soon, it’s probably not going to help much with their savings, especially considering what they have to pay in rent every week.

Every time they talk about buying a house, I wish Jonas and I could do more to help them.

The next morning, I asked Jonas what he thought about Edward and Lucy moving in here, either temporarily or permanently - whatever they’d prefer.

He was a little dubious. Edward and Lucy want privacy and they’re not going to get that living with us.

It wouldn’t be total privacy but it would be more than they have now, with Edward, Lucy and Chris practically living on top of each other. We hardly use the second storey of the house at all and they could have it all to themselves if they wanted!

He couldn’t argue with that one but he’s wary about Edward and Lucy thinking we’re trying to smother them or something. He wants to wait a few months, see how they go with saving and then think about asking them then. 

Much as I would love to have Edward and Lucy move in here, I also couldn’t blame them if they’d rather find their own feet. So we’ll wait and see what the situation is like in a few months’ time. 

Notes:

• Title is from Weird Divide by the Shins.
• I was following Tatiana's lead on how she reacted to Amanda, because she actually still rolls the occasional Georgina-related want. But she ended up really liking Amanda! I didn't even pose Brendan in that kitchen pic - he was really waiting there to talk to Amanda. Then he gave up and went out to play helicopters with his dad and BIL!
• Audrey's baby is almost here, guys! I just have to play through the uni updates (only two this round) and then I can do birthdays. :D So excited!
• Lucy and Edward moving in is something I've been considering for the past week or so. I want to keep the house in the family and initially, I was going to have Dominic and Leslie move in but not for several years. But they're pretty settled where they are, while Edward and Lucy are really struggling financially. Then again, if Edward and Lucy end up with some kind of unexpected windfall, they might be able to buy after all. So I'm going to see what happens in their next play session, which is a few sim months away. Moving them in here is a definite possibility though.