Sunday 27 October 2013

Day in, day out


Round 34: September 2040 (Spring)

Augustin and Hanna Novak are 85, Naomi is 65 and Owen is 63. 
(James is 65, Eliot is 54, Amar is 39, Adrienne is 33, Malcolm is 30, Hope is 29 and Beau is 2)

Narrated by Naomi Novak

We woke up one morning last week to discover Mum had passed away in her sleep. 


If you’re going to go, in your sleep seems preferable to any alternatives but we were all still devastated.

My parents were young when they had James and me - barely out of their teens themselves - so I was lucky to have Mum around for as long as I did. Many people are not fortunate enough to reach their 60s and still have both parents alive.

Even knowing all this, I still feel totally unprepared and blindsided by Mum’s death. I lived with her my entire life, so to have her suddenly not here is a massive adjustment for me.

I find myself getting more worried about when I’ll lose Dad too. He and Mum were the same age and I don’t know how much time we have left with him either.

Losing Dad is going to be especially tough for me. We’re so alike and we’ve never really clashed much, even when I was a teenager. 

After Mum’s funeral, we held little get-together at home afterwards. As little as can be with our family anyway. 

Mum had three kids, nine grandkids and seven great-grandkids, so even a family-only gathering is enormous.

But it was nice. I hate being around that many people but it’s different with family. There just doesn’t seem to be as much pressure.

Malcolm and Adrienne both have so much going on and before Mum died, it had been a few weeks seen we’d seen either of them in person. 

We normally try to see each other fairly frequently, especially since Beau came along. 

Even if we go just a couple of weeks, the next time we see him, he’s learnt a whole load of new things there was no hint of before.

The day after the funeral, Owen and I both had to go back to work and leave Dad alone at home. He told me not to worry, though of course, I did anyway. 

Dad is coping okay, considering, but he’s been extremely quiet.

He’s spending a lot of time in the garden he started with Mum. It’s spring now and he’d been looking forward to planting some new things with her but he usually just has the dog out there with him.

I’m very glad we got Diesel not long before Mum died. Neither Owen or I were able to take much time off work, so it’s comforting to know Dad’s not totally alone all day at home.

I still worry that he’ll hurt himself but he loves that dog, so at least he’s a little less lonely.

James and Eliot both live fairly close by though and have been dropping in during the day, when they can. 

Things with Mum and Dad have always fallen to me, being the one who remained living in the family home but my brothers have stepped up a lot since Mum died.

We’ve had family and friends streaming in and out of the house recently. 

It’s actually getting quite exhausting but I know everyone just wants to check in and make sure we’re all doing okay.

It’s nice that they care but I’d just rather have time to myself to sew. 

Sewing always helps take my mind off things, which I’ve needed quite a lot lately, when I’m missing Mum.

I’m glad both Dad and Owen know to never disturb me when the door to my sewing room is closed. 

I’m lucky to have them.

Things have been understandably gloomy here of late but we did recently get some happy news.

It’s very early days but Hope and Malcolm are having a baby!

They’ve been trying for a little while now and they’re both thrilled that it’s finally happening for them.

This will be the second grandchild for me and Owen and Dad’s eighth great-grandchild, which is amazing. 

Mum would have been ecstatic with the news, as she was always on Hope and Malcolm’s backs about starting a family. 

We’re all wishing that she was still here to meet the impending Baby Novak but even so, the news has given us all a little lift. 

**********
Hanna Novak (1955-2040)


Hanna Novak (née Gottlieb) died suddenly at home this week, at 85 years of age.



Hanna Novak was born in Exeter, to Isaac and Petra Gottlieb, in 1955.


She was raised alongside twin brother, Adam, who now lives in Sullivan. 


While still in high school, Hanna began to date her future husband Augustin.

The couple attended Suffolk University together after graduation, where they both earned philosophy degrees.

It was at university that Hanna became pregnant for the first time, resulting in twins James and Naomi. 

A few years later, Hanna and Augustin married at Augustin's parents' home in Sullivan.

Six years later, youngest son Eliot joined the family.

Until their retirement several years ago, Hanna and her husband both worked in the field of education and were very well-respected among their peers.

Hanna is survived by her husband Augustin; children Naomi, James and Eliot; grandchildren Aaron, Ethan, Connor, Adrienne, Malcolm, Tim, Matthew, Simon and Charlotte and great-grandchildren Amy, Natalie, Curtis, Willow, River, Wren and Beau. Had she lived, she would have welcomed her eighth great-grandchild in June.

Extras:





Diesel the dog ran away at one point. He was being treated very well by the family but he's Cowardly and I suspect he saw a tree struck by lightning (insane rain this session!) and made a run for it. Austin Carmody's girlfriend Nora was the one who brought him back. I've been looking at animal-related careers for her, in case she ever marries into the hood, but I completely forgot she was legitimately the animal control NPC! Even though that was the whole reason I made her an animal lover in the first place!

Notes:

  • Title is from Day In, Day Out by XTC.
  • RIP Hanna! If it seemed like I was delaying this update, I kind of was. I hate killing my sims off, even when they're as old as Hanna is. :( 
  • The get-together after the funeral was quite debaucherous! Connor and Lila headed off to Augustin and Hanna's bedroom before I could stop them and Ethan and Maia were making a run for Naomi and Owen's room before I locked the doors. Locking the doors doesn't do much when there's a hot tub in the backyard though. Adrienne and Amar jumped in first and Hope and Malcolm had a the same idea a little while later. Then Adrienne and Amar got in for Round 2. And yes, before you ask, this is where Hope and Malcolm conceived their baby.
  • Sidenote but isn't hot tub woohoo incredibly gross? I have to not think about it too much when I'm playing, because it really does seem quite unsanitary!
  • If you only skimmed the obituary, you might have missed it, so I'll repeat again that Hope is due in June 2041, a month after Patience and Rob's third is due. I will probably try to work Hope's pregnancy updates into birthday updates that I already have planned. There are a lot coming up and I don't really want to add more if all that's happening is a bump-up! ;)


18 comments:

  1. Aww, I knew someone would die :( good news about the baby, so it can be a bright point during their lives and wow, they have been blessed to be with their parents that long. Though I'm not sure I could live with my parents that long.

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    1. I guess with four elders, two of them being very old, it had to happen sometime. :( Everyone's happy about the impending baby though, so that's good.

      Ha, I think it would take just the right balance of personalities for a parent/child relationship to still be healthy living together for so long. Though it's done all the time in a lot of countries, so maybe not?

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. How do you mean, you killed her off? Don't Sims in your game die of old age when their lifetime bar reaches its end?
    But I know what you mean about losing a Sim you've enjoyed playing for a long time. It's funny, isn't it, how we become a bit more attached to some Sims than to others.
    Love those huge family gatherings!

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    1. No, they don't. Because it's so easy to reach perma-platinum, at least for me, I edited my sims' aging so that they didn't get any bonus for reaching that state. Leaving it as it was meant that they all died at almost exactly the same age, give or take a few days, because they were all perma-plat. But then I didn't like it how when my sims died was completely random, so I switched to using Maisie's system, which takes into account a lot more than just aspiration score and is more realistic to me. I have a list of when all my elders are scheduled to die, which is a bit morbid, but the way I play, I really can't just have them dropping dead willy-nilly. I need to be able to plan for it.

      But yeah, no matter how your sims die, it's still hard. You watch their lives for so long, you do get rather attached!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. It's nice that Augustin has Diesel to keep him company. Pets are always great in times of need, even if they don't know it. It's sad to see Hanna go but, like Naomi said, if you have to go, doing so in your sleep seems most preferable.

    I'm hoping that Malcolm and Hope's baby has her freckles. I love them!

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    1. Yeah, Augustin rolled the want to get a pet before Hanna died and I figured he might be glad for the company once she was gone! They bonded very quickly.

      Oooh, I actually have a new system I'm going to use to decide on whether a baby inherits freckles from their parents! It also decides on whether they'll need glasses and their hairiness level. I'm not positive I'll use the hairiness one yet but I'm excited about the freckles. I've already assigned freckle genes to all of my sims, so there may be unfreckled parents giving birth to freckled babies. Simmerville at The Sims Daily posted about it a while ago (for TS3 but I decided to adapt it) and I jumped right on it!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. What a lovely update! Must admit I have a soft spot for elder sims, my first sim story was about two elder sims. lol Still, this was a very heartwarming and teary update that was nicely written. :) Loved the little montage of her life at the end.

    I have trouble seeing my sims go, so I never used to have story progression or aging enabled but then it used to get kinda boring. lol

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's funny but I actually just read your elder story last night. :) I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything with Hank and Pauline (I find it hard to follow Tumblr stories sometimes!) and stumbled across it. It was very sweet.

      It's a fine balance between moving the story along at a pace where you don't get bored and feeling like your sims' lives are going by too fast!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. Aww! I really love the obituary at the end. Seeing Hanna through the years. Wow! And her family is huge, lol. Getting that picture was likely a pain. I really miss the freezer clock!

    So excited for Hope and Malcolm. Gotta love sim babies. :D

    I know how you feel. Since I have to manually kill my sims now, too... I feel so guilty! Like it's completely in my hands NOT to kill them, but there time is up on the spreadsheet. Sigh.

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    1. I almost didn't do the obituary but then I started looking through some older pics of Hanna and I couldn't help myself. ;) The big picture was a bit of a pain but I actually find that getting everyone in frame is way more annoying than the posing!

      I'm super-excited that I have babies due - I've already picked out names!

      Ugh, yes, that's exactly it! And I always feel like my remaining sims are looking at me and just hating me for putting them through unnecessary heartbreak!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. Aww, poor Novaks. It had to happen sometime, but it is still sad. I'm glad they all have each other to turn to for comfort.

    LOL about the shenanigans at the gathering...I guess everyone wanted to be reminded that they were alive... ;) I am excited about Hope and Malcolm's baby!

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    1. Yes, Hanna was very old, especially for a sim. She might have been my oldest living sim so far but I'll have to check that. They'll all get through it, fortunately.

      Oh Lord, the shenanigans! It wouldn't be a sim gathering without some sort of shenanigans going on! The only other time I had a funeral in game, it went a similar way. But at least we got something good out of it, leaving aside the grossness of conceiving a baby in your parents' hot tub!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  7. Is it bad that the first thought I had was "They're still alive?!" Augustin and Hanna are the longest-lived sims I've ever seen. And Augustin is going to live even longer. I loved the obit, and to see them so young, cause all the pics I've seen of them in recent memory were of them old. I forgot completely that she was Adam Gottlieb's sister until you mentioned it. That's one big family, and to think that last pic doesn't include any of the great-grandkids.

    That inspired me to take a walk through the photos of sims past and I noticed that Naomi looks JUST like her grandmother. The same way Hanna at the end of her life strongly resembled her aunt.

    Anyway, I know they're all sad to see her go. Having someone around that long and suddenly gone is hard. But still, respect for your grandfather's house, people! LOL

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    1. LOL, no! That's pretty funny - Hanna and Augustin have both have some very impressive longevity! I have some sims (apart from Augustin) who will end up living longer than Hanna though. :)

      I almost kind of forgot Hanna and Adam were brother and sister myself, lol! With such large families and with so many sims, the less dramatic ones don't get as much of a look-in. I never noticed the resemblances you mentioned but they are rather striking, aren't they?

      Ha, I know, right?! Those disrespectful sims!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  8. After your post on N99 about this family I had a feeling some one would die :(
    It's always sad to lose a sim, but she lived long and seemed to have had a full life.

    Malcolm and Hope had some exciting news though! I was wondering when they would announce a pregnancy, so I'm glad they finally did :)

    Aren't family gatherings fun when every one disappears to the bedroom or the hot tub? ;)

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    1. Ha, I wonder what I said at N99 that gave you that impression! I wasn't trying to give anything away but perhaps I did anyway! But yes, I think Hanna lived a full and happy life.

      Malcolm and Hope's news was quite exciting, wasn't it? I was going to let them try for a baby next time I played them, seeing they both have the want, but I guess they have other ideas. I've scheduled their update next round for when Hope will be very heavily pregnant, because I don't get to play pregnant sims quite as much with this system I use now.

      I locked the bedrooms, right after Connor and Lila snuck in there but I actually forgot they even owned a hot tub until Adrienne and Amar jumped in! It came with the house, so I didn't really think about it much, lol.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  9. Poor Hanna, and her family left behind. Glad that they are a strong family, and are there for one another. I'm excited that Hope is finally pregnant, how funny that it was at the family gathering! It always seems to produce a baby though, many have been created that way in my hood too. I hope Augustin still has some time left with his family, and can meet the next great-grand baby. Love that they ended up with such a huge family! And ahem, how is Amar nearly 40!?! That is crazy!

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    1. I think the Novaks will get through this just fine. They've got lots to look forward to now, with Malcolm and Hope's baby. I don't like to give away too much about who's dying when but Augustin will definitely get to meet his next great-grandchild. :)

      I know, Amar is steadily approaching middle age! And he's still not married, lol. I'll have to sort that out eventually. He and Adrienne are engaged but I haven't even thought about planning a wedding for them yet! I can kind of see them taking their time though.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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