Wednesday 8 December 2010

Feel

Round 29: June 2030 (Winter)
last update/next update

Arianna Weaver is 75, Liam is 67, Jonas Lachance is 52, Tatiana is 47, Edward is 15 and Brendan is 7.
(Pamela is 45, Jacob and Claudia are both 29, Dominic is 20, Audrey is 18 and Lucy is 15)

Narrated by Tatiana Lachance

For the last several months or so, Mum hasn't really been herself. I guess it happens a lot with people her age but she was always so vibrant. It's been hard to watch her suddenly completely lose track of a conversation.

She has also had a few falls but although they've been scary, someone has always been able to help to her and she came out of it unscathed.

Her last fall was significantly worse. She wasn't conscious when I found her. I just couldn't think about doing anything about getting her to a hospital.

We got there but it was too late. I didn't even get a chance to call any family to give them the chance to say goodbye.

Cara is my cousin's wife and I was so glad she was the on-duty doctor. She was very comforting and seemed to say all the right things.

Still, I was happy when Jonas arrived, along with Liam and Jacob. I was glad they could both still say somewhat of a goodbye.

I got the chance to talk to Jacob a little later on, while Jonas went to get us all some coffee. This is supposed to be such a happy time for him. He just got married a month ago and he and Claudia are still very much in the honeymoon phase.

And nobody but close family knows just yet, but Claudia is pregnant, due in February. So Mum will never know the baby.

It's so hard for Liam. He and Mum married relatively late in life but they were still together for over 35 years. To be alone again, after all that time...even with us around, it must be awful for him.

Liam has always thought of our four kids as his grandchildren but Jacob and Claudia's baby will be his first biological grandchild. He won't be able to share that with Mum now, so it's going to be difficult for him.

I think he's managing to get a little bit of solace from it as well though. I know he's really looking forward to the birth.

Mum was not the type of woman to be constantly nagging us for grandchildren but she did really love the ones she had and they all felt very close to her too. So Dominic and Audrey naturally came home for a little bit after she died.

I still miss them so much and it was nice to have them back again, even if it wasn't under the best of circumstances. I know they can't all live at home forever but a part of me wishes they could.

I still worry about how Dominic is doing, even though what happened with Tessa was two years ago now and he's doing a lot better now.

He says he's fine. Dominic wants me to let him worry for a change. That's not my natural inclination, but I'm trying.

I have a substitute teacher to taking my class while I'm on leave for a while but Pamela has been dealing with all of my principal duties in the meantime. Pamela has also become a good friend to me. She and her daughter Lucy brought over some groceries and a few meals for us when they heard the news, which was so thoughtful of them.

I'm pretty sure Lucy was more keen to see Edward than to pay her condolences but that's okay.
They've been dating for about a year now and I know Edward was happy to see her. I'd never say anything to him, because he'd be so embarrassed but he and Lucy are just so sweet together.

He was keen to show Lucy the crops. He's taken over completely since Mum died and he's so proud.

Edward was the natural choice to pick up where Mum left off, seeing he's been working with her at the market for the last several months.

She was helping to train him up, so he might be able to manage the store one day. I don't know if that's something he's interested in but Mum said he could handle it, if he did.

I think Brendan is just old enough to understand what death means but still a little too young to process it properly. He's struggling, the poor little thing.

Just to give him something a little bit positive, Liam took Brendan to the pet store to pick out a new dog. He's been pestering us for one for ages, so he was excited.

Brendan ended up picking out a Saint Bernard, who he named Waldo.

Jonas and I probably would have chosen a smaller dog this time but I guess, we have the space for him, so why not? Brendan just adores him.

The first night we had Waldo with us, he decided to sleep with Liam on his bed, instead of in his kennel. It's sweet to think he might know Liam's feeling lonely at the moment.

I don't know how many times I've just broken down but I think, slowly, I'm feeling a little more functional.

I think what's really going to help me is getting back to work. It's time to get back into my routine and I'm actually starting to miss it.

**********
Arianna Weaver, 1955-2030


Arianna Weaver (née Moretti), lifetime resident of Sullivan, died in hospital after a fall at her home. She was 75 years old.

Arianna Weaver was born on her family's farm in 1955, to parents Jonah Draper and Simona Moretti. She grew up with her twin sister Caterina, who is still living in Sullivan and younger brother Filippo, who died in 2025.

Throughout their childhood and teenage years, Arianna remained close with her siblings. Even so, when Caterina and Filippo decided to go to college, Arianna skipped higher education.

Instead, Arianna entered the work force. She worked for several years as a waitress and hostess.

After her father died, Arianna took over his post as manager of Kirby Market, a job she remained in until her death.

At 28, Arianna began a relationship with Galen Clarke. The relationship didn't last long but it did end in Arianna's pregnancy.

That pregnancy resulted in Tatiana, Arianna's eldest child and only daughter. Galen was not very involved in his daughter's life, so for the first part of Tatiana's childhood, Arianna raised her alone, with the help of her parents.

When Tatiana was 12, Arianna rekindled an old relationship with Liam Weaver. The two decided to stay together for good this time and held their wedding on the farm.

Six years later, Liam and Arianna's son Jacob joined the family.

Arianna leaves behind twin sister Caterina, husband Liam, daughter Tatiana, son Jacob and grandchildren Dominic, Audrey, Edward and Brendan. Jacob's wife Claudia will give birth to what would have been Arianna's fifth grandchild in February.

Notes:
  • Title is from Feel by Big Star. I've still got the completely unrelated Robbie Williams song in my head though.
  • RIP Arianna! It was just her time to go, sadly. :( It was fun going back through her old pictures though. It feels like so long ago!
  • This feels like it was my longest obituary yet
  • It's very strange how quickly this household is shrinking. It's been one of my largest households for so long and now it's quite average-sized.
  • Edward rolled the final ROS for this round, which was to pick up a new hobby. That's going to be gardening for him, seeing I need someone to keep it up now that Arianna is gone anyway. I'm not sure if he'll end up the manager of the store. He wants to go to college and enter Oceanography so I might let him do that. :\

21 comments:

  1. So sad to see her go and I forgot that Liam wasn't Tatiana's biological father, he's been in the picture so long.

    Your hospital scene had some recognizable sims in the background in the shop-should we be concerned? And Lucy is so cute, I love her parka and I agree with Tatiana, they look cute together.

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  2. Apple Valley, Liam has been more of a father to Tatiana than Galen ever was, so I'm not surprised. I don't think she even met Galen until she was a teenager.

    LOL, no need to be concerned! The only recognisable Sim is Kimberly Carmody (there's a guy in there who looks like Troy, but it's actually a townie lookalike). The only reason I can think of that she'd be visiting the hospital would be perhaps therapy, so maybe that's where she's headed. ;)

    I love Lucy and Edward too...they always look so sweet and innocent!

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  3. Wow, Galen. That took me back! RIP Arianna.

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  4. Awwwwww RIP Arianna! Its so sad that she won't get to see her grandchild :(. As always, I love your hospital scenes!

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  5. very carefully and sensitively done, and I love the detail about the dog. as an update it was a bit difficult to read: my mother died only a couple of months ago, alone in the hospital, but you did a beautiful job of evoking both the loss and the grief without going over the top with any of it.

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  6. Aww, RIP Arianna! It's sad that she won't get to meet this new grandchild.

    I like your hospitalscenes, but I was wondering, how you do it. Do you make the hospital a regular community when it's not for births, and change it back when a sims has to give birth?

    Tatiana is absolutely right, Edward and Lucy are a very sweet couple!

    I love Waldo! But Saint Bernards always look cure!

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  7. LaurelCrossing, I was thinking the same thing when I wrote that part! And also "how many more obituaries is Galen going to feature in?" I think he's been in seven of them at this point!

    Mizzgin03, sad to see her go, for sure. She won't get to meet her grandchild but I did plan my schedule this round so that she got to see Jacob get married.

    S.B., thank you. The dog was somewhat of a necessity. Poor Brendan's aspiration dropped right down into bottom red when his grandmother died. It's still only mid-green.

    The death entries are always hard for me. I'm never sure what or how much to say, so I'm glad I struck some sort of balance here.

    I'm so sorry to hear about your mother as well.

    Tanja, I know. :( I keep thinking about when Maria died before Evan had kids. She also lived just in time to see him get married and for Ione to get pregnant.

    My hospital is a regular community lot always. I never switch it to residential and I don't use that hospital hack. That's why you never see the EA birth animations in my birth posts. What I do is I take them to the hospital, do the labour shots while the Sim still has the belly, take them home, they have the baby and they head back to the hospital so I can do the shots with the baby (or babies, as it was last time!)

    When I decided Brendan could have a dog, I wanted it to be a Saint Bernard straight away. I've never owned one but I love those enormous dogs!

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  8. Carla, you most certainly hit all the right notes, loss, pain, but hope and remembrance as well. Seeing Brendan cry near broke my heart. And a pet is just the thing to help heal the wounds of missing a loved one.

    Love the transition photos as well. A life, well lived. Nicely done.

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  9. Oh no! Arianna. :( She led quite the life!

    Her role in the market and leaving Liam a widower really maximizes the impact of her death. Poor Liam. I'm glad he has a nice dog to help lull him to sleep, though. This was a very touching update.

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  10. Drew, thank you. Arianna is the first person Brendan has lost and it's happened at quite a young age for him. Poor boy. But dogs are always such a help when you're sad. They seem to know.

    Rachel, it feels like the end of an era every time one of my Gen 2 Sims dies but even more so for Arianna. It felt like she'd been around forever.

    Waldo just jumped up there on the bed autonomously. I normally don't let the dogs sleep on beds but seeing Arianna isn't coming back, I think that might end up being Waldo's permanent sleeping spot. I just think it's so sweet. It'll be a nice comfort for Liam.

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  11. RIP, Arianna! She had a full life.

    It was nice to see all of Tatiana's kids back home even for such a sad reason.

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  12. Aww, :(. RIP Arianna. I really like looking back at their life. Especially now that your hood is so rich in history. You nearly broke my heart with that pic of Brendan crying but cheered me up a little with that pic of toddler Tatiana (what a cutie she was... and still is). I really like how you write their natural deaths now, I might add. Like everyone else has said, it's not overly sad but not like "yea, she died".

    On a happier note, I really like Edward and Lucy. Lucy is so adorable and so far, no signs of having the bi-polar trait her sister has LOL. I love her new 'do. And I love the Saint Bernards in the game. They look like they're always smiling. So sweet that he sleeps next to Liam. It's like he knows :(.

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  13. Sari, that she did! She'll be remembered by many.

    I love letting Tatiana's kids visit her. She's always so happy to have them around so I'm sure she was cheered up. I've never seen a Sim hug someone like she was hugging Tatiana.

    Danielle, I love looking back through old pictures for the obits. I always find pics I don't remember taking. That one of Tatiana is still one of my favourite toddler pics. She was such a cute little girl. I was so glad Audrey looked so much like her.

    Thanks! I don't know if I have it in me to go too sad, so I'm glad it seems enough.

    LOL, oh, Lucy's personality is very different to Julia's. Julia is outgoing and mean, while Lucy is shy and nice. Just like the Lachances!

    Ha, the Saint Bernard's smile is the only reason I stuck in that picture of Tatiana and Jonas at the table, with the dog beside them. It makes me laugh!

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  14. Awww! RIP Arianna. It was nice to go down memory lane. Oh I forgot about Galen Clark, lol. Oh man, weren't those the days? The original male pariah. I forget he's Tatiana's dad.

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  15. Lunar, Galen was so long ago! He was terrible...such a dog! I think he kind of forgot he was Tatiana's dad a lot of the time too, as well as Owen's.

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  16. This was so sad to read, I've been dreading her passing on since I first read about her on here. (She has the same name as my oldest). Poor thing, laying on the ground outside, that was sad!

    I loved all the memory lane photos! I'm going to use your same layout (i hope you don't mind!) when I actually have photos of those that have died! My really old sims don't have any screen captures past their elder years.

    I feel sad for Liam, that big lonely bed, the whole grandparent bit. But man, aren't we glad that Tatiana didn't get Galen's jaw line!

    It was great seeing Dominic and Audrey back home for a little bit. It's shrinking too fast, with kids growing up, and Arianna dying.

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  17. Maisie, I hate killing off my Sims. :( I just checked my death list (LOL, sounds so morbid!) and I have to kill THREE next round. Sad, sad, sad!

    No, I don't mind! I'd love to see memory lane pics for some of the Millwood Sims, when their time comes. I have the same issue with finding pictures though! I didn't take nearly as many when I started blogging. I had more pictures for Tessa, in her 19 years, than I had for some of my elders!

    Oh my God, yes about the jaw line! Owen didn't get it either, thank goodness! Although, it actually doesn't look as bad on a woman. Galen got it from his mother and I never ever thought her jaw line was odd.

    Well, Brendan at least will be at home for a good while yet! But next round will probably be Edward's last at home, if he goes to college (and I think he already qualifies, so seeing he wants to go, he will).

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  18. Awww, RIP Arianna! :( She had quite a full and interesting life, didn't she? I always forget about Galen too!

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  19. Laura, it feels like Galen died so long ago and he was never very involved with Tatiana (though she did take Dominic to meet him, when he was a baby), so it's no wonder he's slipped your mind!

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  20. Even now, in her oldest picture, she still looks so young to me. Even as she's become more quiet in the Weaver updates, she always popped out to me. So sad to see her go, but it was finally her time.
    It would feel strange to me to not see a Draper running the Kirby market. Maybe I've been so used to seeing Jonah, then Arianna at the register. I really hope something happens and Edward ends up running it with Claudia. A bit selfish, but he can deal, lol.

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  21. Fini, I never thought about it before but you're right. Arianna did have a very youthful looking face. Maybe that bodes well for Tatiana's twilight years, seeing she looks quite a bit like her mother.

    I'll definitely always have someone from this family jointly running the market with the Kirby family. Claudia is set to take over the market one day but I'm not too sure which Lachance will serve as manager.

    Thanks for reading!

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