Generation 5: Part 3. Great Feeling

Welcomewelcomewelcome! I’m so glad you guys turned up, because I have seen horrible things. Things that haunt my mind and will never let me go, unless I’m thinking about something else. My parents lately are all over each other. It’s great that they love each other, really, but they don’t need to show it in front of me! I don’t want to hear those noises when they’re making out and I most certainly don’t want to see them do it! You can’t imagine what my body looks like – I am covered in bruises, because I tend to walk around with my eyes closed. It’s safer.

The good thing about my parents being busy all the time is that they don’t notice if one of us is outside longer than we’re allowed to. Let me give you an example. A few days ago, Henner had a really bad day at school and was mad at everything and everyone. His teachers didn’t let him answer one of the questions he knew the answers to, but kept calling his name as soon as he was distracted. In gym class somebody hit him with a ball, right on the nose. Not on purpose, of course, but I guess it still hurt a lot. And he got a C on a test in his music class, which was pretty much the end of the world for him. So, when his last class was over, he went over to a random house and starting throwing eggs at it as soon as nobody was home anymore. He did this for hours, without anybody noticing. When he came home around midnight, mom and dad were still busy with talking about how much they loved each other, and so they didn’t see him sneak into the house. Which is why he didn’t get punished at all! Still I would love them to just stop that as long as we are around.

While my parents were so occupied, we were pretty much on our own now. We had to get up without them waking us, make ourselves breakfast and get to school in time. And I have to say, I did pretty well! Although I overslept once – alright, twice -, I still had straight As in all of my classes. All of my siblings were really proud of me and said that there would be a big surprise because of this for my birthday that was coming up soon! I was so excited that I couldn’t even sleep any more. A surprise for me? What could that possibly be? Whenever I had a free minute, I watched them, trying to find out what they were up to. Sometimes one of them sneaked outside the house, which I could see through the windows. But not once did I see something that gave me a hint. How annoying.

Instead of birthday surprises I was often confronted with Grace fighting with somebody. She and Ivy hadn’t gotten along well ever since Ivy had aged up, but by now there were discussions every single day. This was no longer about me, but about the entire family. Grace made fun of everybody and therefore everybody was mad at her. Can you blame us? She was behaving like the whole world revolved around her and this was not the way life worked.

The only one who tried to stay out of this was Henner. He had been punished by our parents often enough and so he took his guitar whenever he was angry instead of starting a fight. We could tell that he was getting better every day! He probably would be an amazing Hit Movie Composer sometime, which was what he really wanted to be. I had always thought of him more as a rock star, but as long as he was following his passion –music-, everything was just fine. And I already knew a few people who would definitely buy that soundtrack later!

Whenever he took his guitar to play a few tunes, everybody stopped what he or she was doing and went over to listen to him. He was incredibly talented and turned his thoughts into songs so well. One day he surprised us by playing about twenty songs in a row, claiming that they all consisted of the same four chords. Listening to this was really fun, and we realized that he actually was right! Apparently he wasn’t the only one who found out about that, because a little later I found something on Simtube that reminded me of what he showed us. Here, I’ll write the link down for you.

Although Henner spent a lot of time playing the guitar or the piano, he didn’t forget about school. Conscientiously he did every homework that was assigned to him, getting straight As. Apparently, that one C in his music class was just an exception.

My parents soon seemed to get over their smooching phase and starting take care of us more. Thank God. After all, I liked being surrounded by them most of the time. They were my parents and I really loved them. The thought of being without them soon made me sick and I just hoped that this wouldn’t happen for a very long time. My siblings seemed to feel the same – as soon as mom and dad became available again, one of us was always talking to them. Mostly it was me, but Henner and Bella also asked for their attention sometimes. Ivy was more independent, and I don’t even want to mention Grace. All in all, life was really good again.

And it was about to become much better when it finally was my birthday! I still didn’t know what my surprise was going to be, but right now I didn’t care. All I wanted was to grow up and be a teenager, just like all of them. Being in high school would be so much better than the last years of school, I was very sure of that. The kids in my old class had often called me crazy or weird, which really hurt. Everything was about to change.

Surprisingly, the entire family came home to celebrate with me. My dad had been busy with work – which he still attended, without even thinking about retiring -, and most of my siblings were in afternoon activities at school, but nevertheless they all quit what they were doing to come home. Even the local mechanic, who had come around to fix our shower, came into the living room and grabbed one of the noisemaker thingies. That was so nice of him!

I love the new me. The dresses I got are simply beautiful and fit my black hair and my dark eyes perfectly! I decided to keep a ponytail, but lowered it a bit and went to the hairdresser to get bangs as well. Doesn't that suit me very well? To answer that question: yes, it does. It was perfect for me. Everything had worked out perfectly, exactly the way I wanted it to. Now I am ready for high school and for being a teenager. And my birthday cake. If you’ll excuse me – I have to be over there before Henner gets the last piece of cake. He is really fast when it comes to food!

Have a nice day:)

Author's Notes: Whee, all children are teens now! It took a while to get there, but now things are about to get more interesting. A lot happened in this chapter - Grace was mad about everybody, Henner decided that he wanted to be a Hit Movie Composer and Julia grew up and got Perfectionist as her next trait. (By the way, I looked it up: Ivy wants to be the Emperor of Evil and got Flirty as her next trait!) Finn and Cassie are way older than they are supposed to get, but they just won't die. Ever. The house is really crowded, but there is nothing I can do about this. Sigh.

Generation 5: Part 2. When I Grow Up

Oh, hello! You’re here already. Let me continue telling the story of my life by starting where I left off the last time. If you just give me a second to focus… ah, that’s right. I was talking about Bella’s birthday into teenage hood and how she hadn’t changed at all. I might be proven wrong at some point in this story, but you’ll just have to wait and see. Anyway, a day after Bella it was time for Ivy to age up as well, leaving me as the only child… that made me really sad. What if nobody had any time to play with me now? Sure, Flip occasionally came by, but playing with a ghostly dog that never got tired from running around just wasn’t the same as playing with my siblings. This is why I wasn’t too happy when Ivy’s birthday was here. However, she was thrilled to follow Bella. Not only because of the cake, which I personally liked the best. Birthday cakes are just sooo good!

To be honest with you, it was hard to guess what Ivy wished for before blowing out the candles. More independence? Or maybe she wanted better grades in high school than she had in elementary school. Either way I wished her the best of luck that it would be granted. She was rough on the outside, but actually she was one of the greatest sisters you could possibly want. She stood up for me when somebody bothered me at school – which happened regularly, they called me “the weird one” there – and we often played together in the afternoon. After I had stopped pillow fighting, because somebody told me that pillows COULD feel pain, we always found something new to do. Hide and seek, races or making up stories with our dolls, there was no limit to our imagination. Maybe now you understand why I was sad on her special day. Which of course I didn’t show, since I didn’t want to ruin it!

After all, I didn’t think she was going to play with me anytime soon. She was probably going to be busy with being chased by lots and lots of boys. I couldn’t deny that she looked absolutely beautiful, and I was really proud of my big sister. When I grew up, I wanted to be a little more like her – brave and courageous when it came to people I loved, at the same time loving and funny. And pretty! Now don’t judge me, please. I know that looks aren’t really important, but usually it doesn’t harm to be pretty. Plus, putting make-up was so much fun! When all of us were still kids, we would sometimes borrow something from Grace –without asking, obviously – and put on lipstick or eye shadow. Too bad we didn’t take any pictures of us, because we looked really great! But I have a feeling that once you get older, you don’t choose the brightest colors anymore…

The birthday party was really small and just between us. I had put on my princess dress, because I thought it was a special day and deserved a special outfit. Grace made fun of me and told me I already was a freak without more trying to. As soon as she had finished her sentence, Ivy stood up and left the table. When she reached the door to her room, she turned around and came back. In front of the table she stopped and looked at Grace, then calmly explained that she would make her life hell if she didn’t stop bothering all of us. Everybody quietly looked at his or her plate, because this was a difficult situation. I even sensed a fight coming up, something I didn’t want to be caused by my outfit, especially on Ivy’s birthday! This was my fault. If I hadn’t dressed like this, Grace wouldn’t have found something new to make fun of me. Or maybe she would have. This day really confused me. Oh, by the way: they didn’t get into a fight. Grace went to her room and slammed the door, before blasting up some music.

Despite this stupid moment the party wasn’t ruined at all. When we had finished our cakes, we cleaned the plates and started to dance to our own music. Everyone had a great time, although surely nobody forgot what Ivy had done for me, for us. I later overheard a conversation between Henner and Ivy, where he told her that she definitely did the right thing. It’s not like we wanted to gang up on her or anything, but there had to be some way to show her how wrong her behavior really was. But it didn’t seem to matter what we did, because she just didn’t care at all. She just went over to Marissa’s house and had some fun over there, then came back and continued her animosities.

The next night Flip visited us again! He didn’t really do much, but just go to his old bed and sleep for some hours. That was too bad, because that way I could neither play with him nor bathe him. Instead I watched him at night, rolling around in his bed and making these sounds I had loved when I was younger.

What can I say, he didn’t stay for very long. Apparently, the house became too crowded for him – there were now four teenagers and me, plus my parents. Seven people who all needed their space. At some point the house just wasn’t big enough anymore, so Henner just stayed on the school ground after the last period and did his homework there. I know this because I saw him a few times, when I got out of class and ran to catch the bus home. I always tried to convince him to come with me, but he didn’t want to. I would have wanted to stay away from home, too, but my parents wouldn’t allow me. I was still a child and they were too worried about me. It didn’t even help that both Henner and Ivy tried to talk to them about this, they kept telling me to come straight home after school. One should think that they were cooler about this after four children, but they weren’t.

Ivy also tried to avoid home by doing homework at her friends’ houses. She had found new friends the first day at high school and often went to their places instead of bringing them home. I didn’t know one of them, but she told me they were really nice and that I should come along once I was a little older.

She also told me that she liked one of her friends a lot. Of course I had to promise not to tell anybody, but she said he was cute and that she might be in love with him. It was hard to imagine her being with a boy I never met, but the most important thing was that she was happy. Maybe they would be the first ones to get married – that would be great! But I guess they would have to be dating first, right?

Because of staying outside in the evening, Ivy got into a lot of trouble. It seemed like my parents were stricter when it came to her than when punishing anybody else. To be honest, Ivy sometimes was a little rebellious, but just on the outside and it wasn’t fair that she kept getting grounded. Maybe she missed curfew one or two times. But she was fine! I really wanted to stand up for her, but she told me not to. She guessed that our parents just blamed everything on her because of her tendency to be a little mean-spirited once in a while. And at some point she was just sick of it. You want to know what she revealed to me? I’ll tell you. But don’t tell anybody, this is still top secret! Once she finished high school, she wants to become a criminal and really show them. I didn’t understand if she wanted to be a Master Thief or something like the Emperor of Evil, but I will ask her again soon. As soon as we are alone, because I am the only one who knows! I only told my teddy bear Debbie, nobody else. And she promised to keep it to herself. I know that I wasn’t supposed to tell anybody, but come on – this was really big! I needed somebody’s advice on this and Debbie was there for me.

So Ivy was going to be a criminal. This was something I hadn’t expected. But it seemed like everybody developed new aspects about them – Bella was caught outside after curfew in a bar where she had hung out! I couldn’t believe it. She was always the kind, conscientious one and now she just stayed out on purpose! My father said that her breath smelled like alcohol when he talked to her. So she was late AND drunk! What was happening to my older sister? It seemed like she wanted to show us that she wasn’t the nice girl everybody considered her to be. But why? Was she trying to be cool and fit in with the “bad” people at school? Or was she really different from what we saw in her? This was a problem that wouldn’t solve itself anytime soon.

Something that CAN be solved is my mumbling stomach. I am really hungry… maybe Henner made some of his famous pancakes that taste so delicious! If he did, I will save you guys some.

Have a nice day! :)

Author's notes: I'm on a roll... although I practically had NO sleep last night. I was at an open stage thing in the evening, was back at home around midnight and got up at 5.45 to visit my colleague at elemantary school. For the next months I chose her day off to be my school day, partly because we had and have some issues. Still I wanted to say hello. After my visit (which was great) I went back home and immediately sat down to write this chapter. It took me some time, because the pictures were less inspiring than the last ones, but I think I found some good ones. And maybe you can literally see now why I love Ivy as a teen. I basically forgot what exactly her LTW was - either "Emperor of Evil" or "Become a Master Thief". I will check that out as soon as possible and let Julia tell you. ;)

Generation 5: Part 1. Stone Cold Sober

The day of my brother’s birthday was the day I found out our house was haunted. Around midnight, when everybody was having the third piece of cake, I went inside to go to the bathroom and found something on our couch. It was blue, breathed and looked just like our dog Flip, who had passed away a few weeks ago. Within seconds I realized that it really was Flip, who had returned from heaven to be with us for a few hours! It was so sweet of him to appear on Henner’s birthday, although he obviously didn’t get him a present, like a heavenly bone or something. There’s something you don’t get every day. For a minute I thought about giving him a bath, since he smelled quite a bit. Of course, up there you don’t need to be washed every day, since most of the day is about having fun anyway. And if everybody smells like this, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get used to that. But as I didn’t want too much attention by staying away for long, I just passed him quietly and blew him a kiss. I had missed him. You know how much I talked about him after he had passed on, don’t you? Or is this one of the many things my father didn’t tell you? He is a little awkward when it comes to that – busy with talking about him and his thoughts, but forgetting about what is going on in his children’s minds. And don’t tell me you can’t possibly know what people think. It’s obvious most of the time. And if it isn’t, you just have to guess really well.

When I came back from the bathroom, I overheard a conversation between my father and my mother. They were talking about Grace and Henner growing up so fast and wondering about who would give them their first grandchild. Of course, that couple would have to get married; this would be the perfect opportunity for a huge party. Our family alone counted at least twenty people, so it was important to book a decent place in time. When I sneaked back outside, I smirked. I bet Henner will be the first one to be married, since I can’t picture anyone wanting to be with Grace forever! I know that she is dating our cousin Marissa, but I’m not too sure that will last. Something tells me they won’t be eternally happy. Not that I would want her to be really happy. She was too mean for that.

Henner is completely different! He always listens to us and tries to make us feel good. Not only is he a genius when it comes to the piano or other instruments, but also is he good at heart. The best big brother in the world, I swear! Ask my twin sisters Bella and Ivy if you don’t believe me. After they found out about his musical talent, they stayed close to him all the time, too. It was amazing how fast he learned – one day he played some easy chords and the next he tried a sonata written by some guy called Mozart. I think he’s German or something. The sonata itself is beautiful and I even found a copy in his CD collection – I attached it to my diary for you!

Having two teenagers in the house wasn’t always easy. I was taught that puberty is something that permanently shows once you’re a teenager, but I didn’t know it showed so much. Grace had basically been a b*tch (Ivy taught me that word) for quite some time now, but every now and then Henner started to act a little strange, too. Both of them didn’t care about the household at all, so I took care of that. I didn’t want the house to be dirty and I didn’t want my mother to be stuck with chores all day. She was really old and deserved some time off! And there was nothing too bad about cleaning the dishes, anyway. It was fun to see them twinkling and sparkling when they were done, and sometimes I played that I was competing against some professional dish washer, trying to get the cleanest plates in a short amount of time. I admit that the wastage of plates in our house increased a lot, but that’s the risk when you really scrub them. They break. Weak things.

Weak was not a word describing my beloved big brother – when there was something wrong, he faced the problem and tried to work it out. And when Grace was mean to him, he stood up for himself and attacked her, just like she had made fun of him. Both of them got grounded numerous times, but it was definitely worth it! My brother was my hero.

Even after the day both of them got into a huge fight. I don’t know what it was about, but in the end Grace kicked his ass, if I might say so. It felt weird to see him lose, but since I knew that there was some higher power judging Grace and her behavior, I was still relieved. Instead of being mad at Grace, I just got Henner some ice cubes and put them on his swollen face. Poor guy, he didn’t deserve this. Of course none of us ever told anything about this at school – being beaten up by a girl was not something he was proud of.

Apart from the occasional fights in the house everything went really well. All of us did well in school – even Ivy who had missed a lot of periods due to her rebellious behavior – and our parents were really proud of us. My mother even was in the mood for some pillow fights, which is something she never did when we were younger. It was so much fun to play with her, although I got a little worried about the pillows themselves. We lost a lot of feathers, which must have been like losing strays of hair to them. Did they feel the pain when we hit them? If they did, I wanted to stop immediately. No creature deserved to be in pain just because two Sims want to have fun.

There were so many ways of having fun – one of them was celebrating birthdays! Bella had made it through elementary school and was now turning into a teenager. Boy, the house really was getting crowded! All of us were excited to see if she stayed as conscientious and ambitious as she was.

Well, you can already tell from her look, can’t you? She chose boring clothes and a hairstyle that literally made me yawn. After all, I don’t think she changed at all, she just grew a little.

I think this will be all for today. My brain is pretty much empty and I think I need to go rest a little. If you see Flip before me, tell him I said hi and that I promise to give him a bath the next time he turns up!:)

Have a great day! 

Author's Notes:  We're back! And what better way to start my post-holiday-posting than starting with the next generation. Julia really is fun having around, especially when I start thinking about how she might see things and what she would say about certain stuff. This might be a really fun generation to play with and write about!

Chapter title refers to a great song by Paloma Faith, I chose it because Julia's thoughts sometimes sound like she is drunk or did something else to her that confused her mind. But she really is stone cold sober at all times. ;)
Don't miss the Outtakes below!

Outtakes!

I have a few pictures I really wanted to share with you. They didn't fit into the course of the story, but fortunately I can post them here :) So here we go:

Henner almost died from a piece of cake. I love my timing.

Now he is grounded because of the fight with Grace. Poor guy. I just want to hug him.

Elders pinching the children's cheeks is awesome to watch! Ivy doesn't really enjoy it, though.

Generation 4: So, who will be heir now?

My suitcase is almost packed, the alarm is set for 4 a.m. (yuck!), I'm ready to go. But before I do, you should know who the heir for Generation 5 will be. It was a very hard decision for me, really. Both Ivy and Julia have qualities that appeal to me, but there are also things about them I do not like.

Short and sweet: 

The heir for Generation 5 will be Julia. Of course, there are a few reasons that led to this particular conclusion and I think you should know them:

• I know Ivy's lifetime wish and it doesn't really appeal to me
• Julia being insane stands for an interesting character
• I just love her as a teen.... (although I really adore Ivy, too!)

As you can see, the reasons aren't overwhelmingly strong, but they were enough for me to make my decision.

If you can't remember who Julia were, you can read her short bio again right here:

What am I looking at? Who am I looking at? Are you real? And if you're real, what am I? Maybe I am just a little figure in somebody's imagination! That would mean that the existence of our kind would be unsure. We aren't real! We are not even here! But if we aren't, how come I can still talk to you? This is so weird. Let me just tell you some things about me, before I think about that question too much. Anyway, thanks for not interrupting me! My parents always do that; they call me insane. Just because my thoughts aren't exactly main-stream? I bet, no one in this family has ever thought about the realness of our world, but it's something so important! How can you possibly ignore that? THAT is insane!!

When I'm being stopped from thinking out loud, I express my thoughts in art. Oh yes, I am a very talented artist, both in paintings and in music. Maybe I will later join my older brother Henner when he starts a band!That would be great, wouldn't it? But then again, when he and I aren't real, that would mean that our band wouldn't be real. The music we bring out to the people wouldn't be real! What a terrible thought! But before I bore you some more with my apparently "insane" thoughts (again! Think about it! Who is insane here?), I will finish talking altogether. Have a nice day! And always remember Julia's, that's my name, words!

(By the way: by choosing Julia I still have the opportunity to put her and Henner in a band later and have him around once in a while :) I love musical sims!)

So, this is it for now. Have a nice week and see you afterwards! I'm off to the beach in a few hours.

Generation 4: And the winner is.................?

The winner is........huh.

That didn't exactly work out the way I wanted it to. Although I am really grateful for each and every single vote, the situation now is not exactly easy. We have two winners in this vote. Ivy and Julia each won with 2 votes, while Henner and Isabella only had one vote each.

Now that the vote is over, I can tell you my thoughts: When I started this, I really wanted Henner to win. BUT then I played a little ahead and all of my children aged up to teens. Now I had three favourites, of which two made it into your "recall" of you want to call it like that. Actually, that made it a little easier, since my choices are narrowed down a bit. Now it's either Ivy or Julia.

I guess I will have to think about that for a few days. On Saturday I'm going away for 1 1/2 week, so before that I will have told you my decision. Thanks for voting!! :)

Generation 4: Heir Vote!

What's up?! I'm Henner, but I guess you knew that already. What you also know is that my father wants to make a decision on who should carry on the family traditions and stuff. I'm not sure I got it completely, but since you probably know all about this, maybe you should teach us! After all, it is one of us who will have that burden! Scarred for life! Okay, well, maybe I am a little dramatic sometimes. But it's only because my mind is the one of a true genius and therefore I know that something really big is coming up.And it's going to have a big effect on all of our lives.You can bet that I will work very hard if my dad chooses me. I have never been one to procrastinate, but worked as hard and as much as I possibly could. If you called me a workaholic, I wouldn't be mad about that, I guess. It's true.
What I want to do with my life, you ask? I'm not really sure about that. There is nothing in particular I would call my lifetime wish. Maybe I want to be a musician and be in a really awesome band. We would tour the entire country, have groupies and stuff! That would be really great. And since my family called me a virtuoso numerous times, music might be my destiny.

Oh Henner, stop babbling and let me introduce myself instead. No one knows how long my hair is going to stay this way and I want to look good on my picture! After all, those people out there can decide over our entire lives! Do you want to be ignored only because the sim before you can't stop talking? No? Well, neither do I! 

Sorry, I normally don't act like this. My parents always call me a very sweet and good kid. Usually I try to be friendly to eveyone around me, unless somebody is really mean to me. Like my sister, who sometimes drives me crazy. Huh. What a nice day outside! Have you noticed that the sun is shining? Maybe I should pack my bathing suit and drive to the pool. If I ask Dad, he might even drive me there. That could be a fun day! Oh wait, I was supposed to do something before. That's right, the interview! God, I'm sorry. Sometimes I'm just a little absent-minded, I guess. It's just that pretty things easily distract me. Like the sun, the flowers, birds outside... oh, hey, I want a bird. Maybe I will get one for my birthday! Uh..never mind. It was very nice to meet you! Although I don't really know what to do with my life, I know that I really want you guys in it :)
Love, Bella xxx

Hey guys. My dad made me come here to answer some stupid questions, and he promised that I would get some ice-cream if I did! That's a good thing, so go ahead and ask anything you wanna know. Well, not anything. Some stuff really is none of your business.

Oh, you think that was evil? Sorry, you'll have to deal with that. I'm not going to play nice, just so that you will vote for me. Not going to happen! I'm not like my sister Bella, not at all. She is the well-behaved little angel and I, Ivy, am pure evil. Muhahahaha. What did you just say? You didn't expect that from my looks? Well, looks aren't everything, I guess!

So let me get this straight. Although you might think that, I don't exercise. I hate sports, I hate running and I hate sweating. There is nothing better than a day on the couch in front of the TV! My dad totally agrees with me on that, by the way. We are both what you would call a couch potato. And when the bags of chips are empty, I don't stop watching TV to take them out to the trash. Are you kidding? My sister would do that, but I just throw it behind me. Somebody will take it out at some point, and I don't mind if there is a big mess around me. Being chaotic is just so damn comfortable.

What am I looking at? Who am I looking at? Are you real? And if you're real, what am I? Maybe I am just a little figure in somebody's imagination! That would mean that the existence of our kind would be unsure. We aren't real! We are not even here! But if we aren't, how come I can still talk to you? This is so weird. Let me just tell you some things about me, before I think about that question too much. Anyway, thanks for not interrupting me! My parents always do that; they call me insane. Just because my thoughts aren't exactly main-stream? I bet, no one in this family has ever thought about the realness of our world, but it's something so important! How can you possibly ignore that? THAT is insane!!

When I'm being stopped from thinking out loud, I express my thoughts in art. Oh yes, I am a very talented artist, both in paintings and in music. Maybe I will later join my older brother Henner when he starts a band!That would be great, wouldn't it? But then again, when he and I aren't real, that would mean that our band wouldn't be real. The music we bring out to the people wouldn't be real! What a terrible thought! But before I bore you some more with my apparently "insane" thoughts (again! Think about it! Who is insane here?), I will finish talking altogether. Have a nice day! And always remember Julia's, that's my name, words!

Here are your candidates for the heir vote! 

• We have amazingly pretty Henner, who might want to be a musician later, due to his talents. 
• Then there is sweet little Bella, who would do anything to please the people around her, as long as she doesn't forget about it. 
• Next to her is her twin sister Ivy, the exact opposite of what can be called nice. 
• And lastly there is Julia, who thinks about realness and other crazy stuff a lot.

Please do vote as soon as the vote is up (I will do that in a second!)
By the way: Grace's traits were Loner, Neurotic,Clumsy and Hydrophobic.

Generation 4: Part 16. Family Portrait

As I said, the more we thought about it, the more we knew that on some level we had lost our oldest daughter. For so long she had been reliable and caring, but now that she was experiencing first love, all of that seemed to have disappeared. That had to be one of the worst things you could possibly feel. Often I found myself crying or at least with tears sprung to my eyes, and Cassie didn’t feel very different.

Apparently, Grace’s siblings weren’t so fond of her new self, either. Even Ivy, who always had seemed to love her the most, started playing tricks on her. Mean ones. This surely wasn’t funny anymore, but whenever I tried to talk to her about it, Ivy just said something like “Well, she deserved it, didn’t she?” and went away. She was probably right, although I can’t believe I was with her on that one.

Surprisingly the structure of our family changed quite a bit. Grace had been there for everyone, and everyone had gone to her first. Now that she was no longer available, the four children grew a lot closer. I know that things have changed ever since we moved into the new house, but this was another change. Maybe it was a way to cope with the new circumstances, but it seemed to be a really good one. They played together in the afternoon and helped each other out with their homework. Although they weren’t in the same class – Henner was two grades above the twins, and Julia was one below them – they formed a little study group that met in the living room four times a week. One of us made them cookies, which was the only way we were allowed to support them in. I was so proud of them! Unfortunately it made my decision harder when it came to the choice of the heir for the next generation! Cassie and I grew older every day, and I had already made my lifetime wish quite some time ago. Somebody new should take over, but who could it possibly be?

I spent a lot of time thinking about this, since it was a very serious matter and something that shouldn’t be decided too quickly. Grace was not an option for me, that was for sure. But what about the other ones?

Before I could make a final decision, something important was about to happen: Henner had finished elementary school a few days ago and was now about to grow up! Unbelievable how quickly time had passed. I very well remembered his first steps and the first word he ever said to me. And now there he was, holding a very good report with a recommendation for one of the best high schools in town. We couldn’t be more proud of our little boy.

To be honest with you, I lied before. When I saw what he had turned into, I held my breath. He was an amazing boy who definitely was about to win the girls’ hearts in no time! Hopefully he wouldn’t break any of them.

While I watched him that same night, sitting at the piano and playing some chords, I once again thought about the choice I was about to make. Was it wise to pass the torch on to another man in the house? Or should I choose one of the girls, hoping they would be successful in life? This was a hard decision and I knew I couldn’t make it alone.

Author's notes: Phew, Generation 4 is basically done! Finally I caught up with all the pictures I made and here we are now! For obvious reasons, Grace is no longer available as heir. She started behaving really mean and unreasonable, and as I found her trait combination boring anyway, she's out. Leaves me with four possible heirs: Henner, Bella, Ivy and Julia. Those four will be up for an heir vote, BUT! I want to you to know that I am very much interested in your opinion, but since I somehow have a favourite and some thoughts on my own, the heir might not necessarily be who you vote for. Nevertheless, please vote! :)

(By the way: I lovelovelove Henner as a teenager)