Scenes from a Marriage … and Family

Hey it’s me, Savannah, sitting in the counselor’s office with my parents.  I finally convinced them to see a marriage counselor. 

Here’s what you have to understand about my parents.  They are drastically different people.  That they’ve been together this long and have produced me and my brother is a small miracle in and of itself.  And they didn’t have the benefit of a Toya or a Halima to keep them straight. 

What I’m not really understanding is, why now?  Why did it all have to fall apart like this?  

I love my parents to death.  I just wish they could see eye to eye.

To my right is my mother.  We had a rough relationship, but now, in truth, I feel sorry for her.  She actually had it pretty rough.  My grandmother was domineering, my grandfather disappeared when she was a little girl, and she didn’t even know who half her family was.  She waited years for my father to commit and then when he did, finally, he goes and does this.   Of course, it didn’t help that I wasn’t exactly a typical girl. 

My mother was basically a single parent, even though my father was right there in the house.  My mother and I definitely had our rough moments, times when we couldn’t stand the sight of each other, but she is still my mother, the only one I’m going to get.  And I love her.

To my left is my father.  When I was little I thought he could do no wrong.  We did everything together.  I was a total daddy’s girl.  I think in some ways I still am.

My father was never the ‘typical’ dad.  For starters, he never ever raises his voice above a whisper.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen him angry or upset.  He’s very even tempered.  It’s a Plumb family trait, both Aunt Margaret and my grandfather, I’m told, were the same way.  And I see traces of this even-temperedness in both Noah and Bassy.  I wish I had it but I don’t.  I get really angry, really easily – a lot more like my mom. 

For example, Noah’s reaction when he found out Neil’s GF was pregnant?  A simple posting on his Simbook account, calling himself “Grandpa Noah.”  So typical of him.  But I digress. 

“How did the two of you meet?” the counselor begins, looking in my dad’s direction.

When my dad didn’t answer, my mom spoke up.

“We were both members of the Sunset Valley orchestra.  I had been there awhile and he was the hip, flashy newcomer.  I asked him once, ‘Are you sure you’re a classical musician? Because you don’t look or act like one.’  He told me, and I’ll never forget this, ‘I’m as much of a classical musician as you are.’  He reminded me he was capable of doing pop numbers too.”

“So he played a few bars of my favorite song at the time, Debussy’s Claire de Lune…

“..and then he turned around and told me that he’d once played for the Grim Reaper himself.  I was sold.  I was buying what he was selling.”

“So we had a small commitment ceremony in the community park, for our family and a few of our closest friends, and I moved into his house that he was building on Summer Hill Court.  Then I found out I was pregnant with our daughter, Savannah…”

“When I told Nathan I was pregnant and that I was having a girl, he was ecstatic.  And I remember asking him why he was so happy, and he told me, ‘I’ve got four sons.’

“I fell in love with Nathan because he made me believe the impossible dream.   It was like he had created his own personal wonderland and he wanted me to join him there, if only for a brief moment. 

And for awhile, it worked.  For a while we were blissfully happy.  We were raising our daughter, and then our son Sebastian came after that, and we made it work.  We somehow made it all work.  We lived our lives as members of the orchestra and we were pillars of the community…”

At that point I had to interrupt my mother, because she was engaging in revisionist history.  Lots of revisionist history.  I reminded her that all the parties were her idea, to keep up with her own personal vision of a society dame. 

“I never wanted or needed any of the parties,” I shouted.  “I used to disappear to go to the cemetery just to get away from everything.”

I’m tired of being their band aid.  For once in their lives, why can’t they just tell the truth?

-to be continued -

A Big Day

 

Hey, it’s me, Savannah, looking up from my novel to tell you about a HUGE day in the lives of the Plumbs. 

It began inauspiciously enough, with crying Sierra in the crib in our bedroom. 

The little tyrant disturbing my sleep really pissed me off.  It took me awhile to calm down, so I simply walked away. 

All Andy did was pick her up and she stopped crying.  Hate to say it but he is STILL way better at this parenthood thing than I am.  And yet he wants MORE children.  He has lied.

One of the neighbor kids, Michael Falcon, asked Satis to the prom.  Michael is kind of geeky, actually.  I’d rather her with a geek than a muscle bound guy who’s going to cheat on her. 

Meanwhile, Sety and AJ managed to chase each other around the house before finally taking it outside. 

And Andy, fresh from tending to Sierra, went outside to play hide and seek with Sage. 

It was time for AJ to blow out his candles.  Today he would become a teen. 

My little man all grown up *sniff*  and already he’s asking for a car and a driver’s license.  Sigh. 

Here he is after he got cleaned up.  Goodness he looks like his dad.  The brown hair is from my mom, shockingly enough.

After AJ blew out his candles, Sety and Satis sneaked out to go to their prom, also being held that evening. 

But AJ wasn’t the only person celebrating a birthday.

Yep yours truly.  Joining the ranks of the adults.

And who did I spy at my party?  Oh yes.  Bassy and then a lady in a bright pink vest.  Ugh.  Dad didn’t have to bring HER here.

Dena Hart.  As in, his new girlfriend.  Ugh.  Such a killjoy. 

Yep it’s me, with a few more age lines on my face.  I’m no longer a young adult.

 

I was tossing and turning in my bed when I heard Satis and Sety coming in from their prom.  They’d been named king and queen! 

They came in and ate PB & J sandwiches and went to bed.  By then we were ALL tired. 

Field Trip!

Hey it’s me again, Satis.  My 4th period advanced Simlish class took a field trip today, to the community theater to see Bill Shaxbury’s play “Much Ado About Sims.”  Michael Falcon as usual was in the front, and my partner was Amy Phillips.  She just moved in the house next door to ours with her parents and her older sister Carrie.  In the back were Eugene Hicks and my brother Sety. 

I heard Eugene in the back of me laughing at something, and when I saw that Sety had put a sheet of paper in Michael Falcon’s back that read “Kick Me” I sighed.  Sometimes Sety can be so immature. 

Andy actually managed to make me laugh before school today.  He cracked a joke about pyramids – in decent Arabic, too. 

When we got home, Sety and I were in the kitchen eating Toya’s peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  “It's YOUR turn to clear the plates, Satis, you promised!'
”Yeah,” I reminded him, “but I'm not the one who's in dad's doghouse... am I? So I guess YOU'LL have to do it .... again.”
”Sooo not fair.”
”Serves you right for pulling that prank on Michael Falcon this morning and getting caught.”

“How’d you know about that?”

"Besides, it's Friday night.  I promised Amy I'd meet her to go to the movies."

“Amy,” Sety sighed, “oh, great.”

“What was it about a prank this morning?”

It was mom.  She’d overheard our conversation.

“Uh, nothing,” I hurriedly said, saving Sety from MORE trouble.  For now.

Sety was a good little trooper and put up the dishes. 

Meanwhile, Sage is made of cute.  She stood at the kitchen table after dinner and decided she wanted to ‘hold court’ as a queen for a couple hours.  We listened to her babble on about nothing in particular. 

She managed to sneak outside at night and deposit the contents of her piggy bank in a mailbox for charity. 

It so happened I got to crying Sierra’s crib before dad did.  As long as I tucked Sierra into bed and fed her her bottle, I could get dressed and meet Amy to go to the movies. 

The Announcement

 

Well it’s official.  Neil and Noelle have announced their pregnancy.  And I can’t even pretend to be happy.  Neil is in no way, shape or form ready to be a father.  And me?  Don’t I feel old.  I’m about to become a great-aunt.

And like a good modern couple these days, they announced their pregnancy on SimFace. 

Noah’s reaction to the news was, well, quintessentially Noah.  He didn’t really react at all, save for one cryptic little note on his Simface account. 

The day after Noelle made that little posting on Simface, I confronted my nephew’s girlfriend and soon to be mother of his child. 

Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have said I ‘confronted’ her, but I did have a little chat with the possible Mrs. Neil Patric Miraj Plumb.

Neil himself had gone to his little part-time gig at the local supermarket, as a stock boy.  I looked around their new place and sure enough, there was a baby crib already there.  Definitely unnerving, if you ask me. 

I told her, flat out, that I thought she and Neil were too young to enter a committed relationship.  And that they were definitely too young to be parents.  Hell, I still think I was too young to be a mom. 

She replied to me with her standard refrain:  “But I love him!”

They don’t have ANY idea about love.  Just because they’ve moved in together and are about to have a baby doesn’t mean they actually love each other.  I mean, just saying you love someone doesn’t mean that you do.  They’re kids.  They don’t have a clue.

Just the mere fact that she briefly dated Bassy in high school doesn’t exactly sit well with me.  Was she just THAT determined to become a Plumb to date one and then turn around and date his nephew?

“You don’t understand,” she cried.  “Neil is – sweet.”

Uh-huh.  Just because someone is sweet doesn’t mean you have to have his kid.

I’m wondering if the ‘sweet’ she’s finding are his finances.  Noah inherited a fortune from the Alto estate and then there is the Plumb wealth.  Neil stands to inherit a good chunk of the fortunes of two families and I am not going to allow some gold digger to come in and claim her piece of the pie.  Just who the hell does Noelle think I am?  I’m not stupid.  She was going to be a Plumb by hook or by crook. 

Satis-fied Part 3

 

Hey it’s me again, Satis. 

Draft of mom’s book cover came in from the publisher.  Though I’m not really into historical-fiction novels I might have to give this one a look. 

Anyway….Sety.  I’m not sure what to think about Sety.  After he and my stepdad argued again, he sat on the couch and sulked.  Prom is coming up and I think he might be grounded for that too.

Speaking of prom, I’ve already got a plan to wear traditional Egyptian dress.

I found this one at a shop downtown.  Muslim tradition dictates that the women should have their heads covered at all times. 

However, I know of at least one person who is not happy with my decision to go in traditional dress. 

Of course.  I’m not sure Sety is happy no matter what I do.  “Is that homework hard?” I heard Andy asked. 

“It’s math,” Sety grumbled.  “Math is always hard.”

“Need my help?”

Sety shook his head.

“You know, Sety, it may seem like I’m being harsh to you,” I overheard Andy say while we were eating Toya’s PB & J sandwiches, “but I love you.  I care about you.  I just want you to abide by the rules of the house, which means you come in at a certain time and don’t do anything that will bring the police.”

“You realize that your mother just had a baby, and you have to cut her some slack –”  Andy’s voice trailed off. 

Anyway, all of us went to AJ’s scouts ceremony.  He looked so cute in his uniform. 

The photographer for the Sunset Valley Times-Herald was taking pictures of us as we were leaving.  It’s annoying but it is what it is.  Because we’re Plumbs any ink containing us sells and gets clicks. 

While the photographer was taking pictures, the reporter, Laura Castaneda, took notes, apparently for her story.  I’m supposed to ‘shadow’ her next week at Doo Peas Corporate Towers. 

More later, I have to get ready for prom.

Satis