Saturday 28 May 2011

Get older

Round 31: August 2033 (Winter)
Maia's last update/Ethan's last update/next update

Maia Novak is 31 and Ethan is 27.
(Aaron and Nick are both 30, Matilda is 27, Connor is 20, Annabel and Georgina are both 9, Gabriel is 6, Thomas is 2 and Ryan is 9 months old)

Narrated by Ethan Novak

My ex-girlfriend Matilda just announced her engagement and a few weeks ago, Maia and I went to have dinner with her and her fiance, Miles to congratulate them.

I guess that might seem like an awkward situation for some but Matilda and I are past that sort of thing. Maia is really close friends with her ex, Nick, as well so she's not bothered.

Miles seems like a really great guy and Matilda is really happy with him. He's an artist. He'd like to keep doing it but he's now getting worried about supporting a family on that sort of income.

I really doubt they'll have much cause to worry about money. Matilda is an actress and she's becoming very successful.

She was just cast as the lead in a movie and she spent a lot of time over dinner telling us about that.

After dinner, Matilda asked me if I would be willing to be in the wedding party. Of course, I said yes. Miles met Matilda not long after he moved to Sullivan and most of the friends he has are also Matilda's friends.

Listening to Matilda and Miles talk about getting married has made me think really seriously about proposing to Maia.

Not that I've never thought of it before. I've always pictured myself getting married one day and I've known for a few years that I want Maia to be my wife.

The only people I've talked to about that are Aaron and Connor.

Not that Connor is particularly interested at the moment. Aaron and I ask him about girls sometimes and he says he's swearing off them at least until graduation.

We were kind of surprised but then again, Connor hasn't exactly had the best luck with women so far.

So he does tend to tune out when the topic turns to Maia. Sometimes he doesn't even look like he's paying attention when I talk about her.

Aaron thinks I should just come right out and propose to Maia but I don't know if that's the best approach.

We haven't really discussed marriage before and I don't really want to spring it on her with a proposal.

I guess it's not particularly romantic but it's probably a better idea to broach the subject gently. I don't know if Maia would appreciate a surprise like that.

But it is something that's important to me. I know we could just live together forever and we'd still be a family but I want it to be legal. It would just cement everything for me.

If we got married now, it would be a really good time to plan a wedding. Maia has a new job doing holiday party planning, so we're in a better financial position than ever.

I was so proud of her when she told me about it. She was happy doing birthday planning but was offered a job at another company.

And I really want to have kids, hopefully sometime in the next couple of years. I know Maia wants kids too, even though she's worried she won't be any good at it. Maia is great with children though. Her nieces and nephew adore her and they love visiting us here.

More recently, Nick has been bringing his sons over with him, to give Sarah a break. Thomas and Ryan are the youngest kids I've seen Maia with but she's really wonderful with them too.

I know having other people's kids over to visit isn't quite the same as having your own but I figure when the time comes for us, we'll work out all the other stuff together, just like everybody else does.

Plus, Maia's mum is kind of freaking me out and making me wonder if time is running out for us.

I don't often think about Maia being four years older than me but every time she talks to her mother, the conversation inevitably turns to how she's over thirty and her fertility is running out. I have to admit that I do worry a little.

So when we had a had a quiet night to ourselves, I decided to broach the topic of getting married. She didn't run screaming out of the house, terrified at the mere mention of it, so that was a relief.

I thought we'd just talk about the idea. I definitely wasn't expecting Maia to agree to it immediately! And she was so excited about it too!

So I still can't believe it but I guess we're getting married!

We haven't set a date yet but we already know we don't want anything fancy, because we're not really fancy people. We'd both love a simple backyard wedding.

Our place isn't really big enough to hold a wedding but Maia's parents have a huge backyard; we're hoping they'll let us hold it there.

Maia is positive her parents won't have any problem at all with that. They've both been waiting for us to get engaged for a while now and Maia's mother loves entertaining.

As of yet though, they don't know. We haven't told anyone just yet. Maia is really keen on having some time to just enjoy being engaged, before her parents find out and get probably more excited than we are!

Notes:
  • Title is from Get Older by Matthew Sweet.
  • I never got around to moving Miles in as a playable NPC, so I haven't really had the chance to have him make any friends. He's probably got some boring townie friends but they don't get to be in my weddings. ;) So Ethan it is! Adrienne will be bridesmaid and Matilda's little sister Alice will be a flower girl.
  • I haven't scheduled Maia and Ethan's wedding but by the time Jace and Magdalena's update rolls around, I will hopefully have worked something out. Definitely in the spring or summer - it's only the year that's in question. I can imagine Ethan and Maia (especially Maia!) not being in any particular rush. But I've already picked out her dress. ;)
  • Maia is really growing up, I think! I could probably count on one hand the number of times she's rolled the want to skill but she rolled skilling wants three times this round. She seems to really want to do well in this career and it makes me happy. She's only on Level 4 but this is an achievement for her, believe me!

19 comments:

  1. I'm so happy they are finally getting married! Took them long enough! LOL I wonder how many kids they will have, but I'm getting a head of myself. I think Mia will make a good mom too! OMG, why won't Blogger keep me signed in. This is getting really old. This is GB grrrr....

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  2. Riverdale, you're showing up as logged in for me - your comment looks the same as your comments always do. Blogger is weird!

    Ethan and Maia have been together 5 years, so not as long as some of my couples before they tied the knot! But I think it's the right time for these two.

    As for kids, yeah, you're getting ahead of yourself but as if I'm not, lol! I know Maia's ideal is 2 and I think Ethan's may be 3. So that's what they're aiming for. What they end up with may be another thing entirely!

    Thanks for reading!

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  3. Aww, that's so exciting, they're getting married. You're getting a lot of engagements this round, maybe almost as many engagements as babies :P

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  4. Wow, wow, wow, you have weddings in perspective! Great, I love your weddings! Now, if any new wedding brings you babies... You'll need more kids teachers soon! *lol*
    I love Ethan's expresion when Maia is at the phone with her mother!
    Happy to see Connor! I'm not surprised he gets concentrated on his studies right now. *sad sigh*

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  5. Yay, they're getting married! Like everyone else, I'm already thinking about babies. I'm hoping they'll look like Maia because Lia's look more like Gordon.

    Figures Connor will swear off girls for now, he really doesn't get them... :)

    I won't let townies in my weddings either, I totally get you :P

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  6. They're getting married?? And he didn't even know whether to go down on his knee or put up a billboard or bring out a spreadsheet? LOL!!

    Well good for Ethan. First thing he has to do is put the MIL on mute. As if Maia's fertility is running down the drain because she's over 30.

    Poor Connor. I don't know that swearing them off is going to help but he does need some practice.

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  7. Apple Valley, well, I've had two engagements so far! It does seem like a lot though, seeing they came one after the other, lol!

    Thanks for reading!

    Sandy, it's looking like it, isn't it? I'm trying to think if any of my other couples might be ready to get married this round. I miss doing weddings - it was strange to go into this round with no one engaged! If I do end up needing a teacher, I have Dominic's girlfriend Leslie to step in. She wants to be a teacher and I just got her ready to be a playable NPC yesterday.

    Ethan's a worrier and Magdalena (Maia's mum) really doesn't help much!

    Poor Connor. With the two girlfriends he's had so far, the relationships have been initiated by the girls. He was adopted but he's so much like his dad anyway, in that respect! We'll see if some girl comes along and changes Connor's mind. ;)

    Thanks for reading!

    Flit, oh, I would like one who looks like Maia but I'd also like a little Ethan-clone too. I'm 99% sure Aaron won't have biological kids, so I want to pass on those genes too.

    No, girls are a bit of a mystery to Connor but he really hasn't met the right ones, either.

    Thanks for reading!

    S.B., yes, lol! Maia really took Ethan by surprise, didn't she?

    Heh, Maia's mother knows all too well that fertility lasts well past age 30, seeing she was 45 when she had her youngest! She'll have the wedding to look forward to now, so she'll lay off a little...for a while!

    Connor does really need some practice and I think he realises he's not so good at this relationship thing. He'd just rather focus on his studies at the moment, seeing he knows he knows how to deal with that!

    Thanks for reading!

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  8. Oooh! I'm so happy they are getting married! And as everyone I'm looking forward to their kids, and can't wait to meet those little ones!

    So Connor is swearing off girls, I wonder how long he will stick to that. You can't blame the boy though, it's like Ethan said, the kid didn't have that much luck with girls. I'm sure the one will be out there for him somewhere.

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  9. Well goodness! This is wonderful for Ethan and Maia! It's great that she was up for it when he wanted to just talk it over. Her parents are going to be so excited.

    I'm thinking Connor's problem with girls is that he either picks out the wrong ones, or he doesn't care enough about the ones he picks. Here's hoping something positive will happen so he doesn't end up bitter.

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  10. Tanja, I probably won't have them wait too long for a baby, as Ethan is quite keen. And you know, they're not allowed BC, so it's kind of amazing Maia hasn't fallen pregnant already! I suspect they'll start trying as soon as they're married. I generally have TFB turned off for unmarried couples, to prevent the Sylvia situation!

    If anyone could swear off girls, it would be Connor! He really doesn't tend to roll romantic wants very often but then again, ACR doesn't take wants into account. And he's in a dorm with two single girls. So who knows what will happen?

    Thanks for reading!

    Rachel, Ethan was expecting to have to do a little convincing and ease Maia into the idea but it's not something they've discussed seriously before, so he didn't really know how she felt about the matter. I do think he waited just the right amount of time though. Had he asked last year or earlier, she would have said no. Jace and Magdalena are going to go nuts when they find out!

    It's a bit of both with Connor. He picks the wrong girls (or rather, they pick him, as it's happened so far) but even if he picked the right ones, he's a bit clueless about girls and what they might want anyway.

    Thanks for reading!

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  11. Yay! They're getting married! Can't wait to see the wedding.
    I'm glad Matilda is finally happy now. Her and Miles are very cute together.
    Great update!:)

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  12. coolkat2, I'm really looking forward to putting on this wedding too. I'll get to Matilda and Miles's wedding first but it just feels like so long since I've done one!

    I moved Matilda in with Miles the other day. There wasn't much point to it, seeing I plan on finding them a house to buy but maybe I'll leave them in their little apartment for a while instead. :)

    Thanks for reading!

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  13. That was sweet, love the proposal. And I always love the male-bonding-over-drinks-in-a-bar thing, loved that too!
    Weddings...which means more kids, Gaa Carla! How do you keep up with it all?

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  14. Drew, I felt like doing something other than the "guy gives girl a ring, girl squeals in delight" type proposal! I don't think that would be Maia's thing.

    LOL, yes, this will very likely mean more kids! I don't even think about "keeping up with it" any more. It's just like second nature, almost!

    Thanks for reading!

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  15. How funny that she took his question as a proposal! I'm happy for them and I think it's nice that they want to keep the news to themselves for some time.

    I think Maia's gonna be a great mom. She'll probably be one of those fun loving parents who don't care so much about rules. She just seems such a care-free woman.

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  16. LOL at Connor tuning his brothers out when they talk about relationships. He really hasn’t had the best of luck. But he'll find someone who he'll click with and the relationship will seem effortless.

    Yay another engagement! That was too cute how they got engaged. That’s kind of like how my husband proposed. We were talking about the future and then at the end of the conversation, we were engaged! lol

    I’m so happy for these 2 and glad that Maia is finally growing up. It’s great that you found a career perfect for her. And I think she’ll be a good mom. Both of them will be wonderful parents (and I’m still shocked that they didn’t have any oops babies!) I ditto what Sari said about her being a fun, cool mom.

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  17. Sari, Maia would have known better than Ethan realised how much he wanted to get married, so she knew if she wanted this to be a proposal, she could turn it into one!

    That's the kind of mother I picture Maia being as well, though I think she'll probably struggle in the first couple of years. Once she gets into it, I think she'll enjoy it.

    Thanks for reading!

    Danielle, Connor will surely find someone one day and I think he'll probably be the most surprised when he does. He'll probably still tune his brothers out though - that's partly due to his experiences but also just kind of the way he is.

    Oh, how funny about your husband's "proposal"! Ethan was raring to go but he just didn't think Maia would be. So they're both happy now.

    LOL, I know, no oops babies! I think Maia's reaching the point where she's old enough that she'd have to be actually trying for a baby to fall pregnant. I think the risky woohoo chance goes down with age.

    But I'm so pleased that Maia is in such a good place. I think she'll cope with motherhood, though knowing her, it might take her a while to get into a groove with it and feel confident. But she has Ethan, so I think she'll be all right.

    Thanks for reading!

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  18. Aw, these two. What a sweet couple! I can't wait for their wedding.

    And Maia rolling wants to skill? Wasn't she our girl who dropped out? I'm so proud of her. Maybe she just needed something she cares about to put her in gear for skilling.

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  19. Lunar, me either! But I guess they'll have to announce their engagement first, which they haven't done yet, lol!

    Maia actually was expelled, but yeah, it's quite amazing that she's wanting to learn things and improve herself now. I really couldn't believe it. Pleasure/Popularity aren't usually great at wanting to skill in the first place but Maia was astonishingly lazy about it. ;)

    Thanks for reading!

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