When forty winters shall besiege thy brow,
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,
Thy youth’s proud livery so gazed on now,
Will be a totter’d weed of small worth held:
Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies,
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days;
To say, within thine own deep sunken eyes,
Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise.
How much more praise deserv’d thy beauty’s use,
If thou couldst answer ‘This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,’
Proving his beauty by succession thine!
This were to be new made when thou art old,
And see thy blood warm when thou feel’st it cold.
In other words, Acacia, you need to have a baby before you get old.
I know you’ve never been big on love, marriage, and the baby carriage, but those are all integral aspects to the life of a legacy heir. I’ll do my best to free up some time for the “life of the mind” for you, but I’m afraid we’ll need to devote a bit of time and energy to the life of the body, too.
“I’m thinking I can combine them all – mind, body, and heart. You know. A real woman.”
When Kyler moved in, we discovered that his aspiration is Soulmate. Really? We just accomplished that with Cedar. Now you expect to do this with Acacia? She’s a continent unto herself!
“I dunno. She’s lost a lot of weight since she met me.”
Ok. An island unto herself, then.
Seriously, self-assured Acacia is pretty self-sufficient. I’m not sure there’s room in her heart–or ego–for anyone else.
The first autonomous act Kyler did when he moved in was to clean the shower–the exact same shower that Timothy cleaned autonomously when he moved in!
A man who could steal any woman’s heart!
Now this must be a good omen. Maybe I should just relax and trust you, Kyler.
Bonding over garden salad
Acacia seemed to get the point of Shakespeare’s second sonnet. Or maybe she just was won over by Kyler’s overall wonderfulness. Whatever it was, Acacia began to change. In a good way.
“Kyler, I don’t know where you learned that look–but I am not immune.”
“Oooh, baby!”
Paris and Mesquite enjoyed a little guy time.
“Get down! Get funky!”
While over in Kyler’s red room, aka “the woo-hoo house.” Acacia and Kyler enjoyed their first date. (Oh, yeah. Soulmate aspiration. Looks like we’ll be having lots of dates.)
A little cozy guy-talk in the…. err… bathroom.
“I know this is all new to you, Acacia. There’s no need to be tense.”
The date was going well.
“Sul, sul!”
I did my best to keep Mesquite and Paris from barging in and creating an awkward conversation.
“Wow! I really feel… quite amazing!”
Acacia began to bloom.
Where are these two running to?
“Last one there is llama mama!”
“Let’s beat that biological clock, ok, Ky?”
Share a secret: Kyler talks during woo-hoo. Actual conversations. I’ve had Sims laugh and make noises during woo-hoo, but Kyler actually talks. I guess he figures that, with a genius like Acacia, he want to connect to her mind, not just her body, during those most intimate times.
“Whatever he does, it works. I had no *idea* life could contain so many colors!”
Whatever it takes to make it good.
“Come on in! It’ll count towards your aspiration!”
I was super happy to find out that woo-hooing in the rocket counts towards “exploring space,” since Acacia still needs to do about three more of those to level up for her nerd-brain aspiration. Acacia was pretty happy about it, too.
Earlier that day, Paris’s mom stopped by.
“Who is that calling my name?”
“But she’s Paris’s mom!”
Mesquite’s pleas fell on deaf ears. Paris was devastated. So was Mesquite, who had just become good friends with Aurora (He’s been striving for the “five good friends” for the next step in his impossible-for-him Friend of the World aspiration. Her death brings it back to one.)
It seems that the death of his mom reactivated the trauma of seeing his good friend, and adopted dad, Timothy die, for Paris autonomously went to mourn Timothy, whose headstone is right next to his mom’s.
“Timothy. It’s not the same without you.”
Kyler, being the lovely cheerful Sim that he is, tried to cheer up Paris–this, in spite of his own sadness at having witnessed death.
“You’ve got years ahead of you!”
Suffering grief really changed Paris–in a softer, gentler way. He autonomously hugged Acacia when she returned from her space explorations with Kyler. And his morning hot-head rages ceased.
“Acacia. Thanks for just being you.”
I noticed this same change in Sims 2; sometimes life’s hardships can deepen and soften a Sim, making them more loving and more caring.
Mesquite, too, felt a rekindling of his grief for his dad’s passing.
“Hello, Sadness Hotline?”
Meanwhile, Acacia and Kyler were discovering bliss in spite of loss.
This is how he looks at her.
Acacia knew right away that she was pregnant. Seriously, she kept walking around with baby rattle and bassinet thought bubbles.
But she had to wait until she was sure to break the news to Kyler.
“You’re having my baby?”
Soon she was telling everyone, hoping that the news of a new family member would help to ease the pain of having lost one.
“Oh! I’m so excited. Nope. Not. Now it’s gone. Sorry. Still very sad.”
She even told Baby Babcock.
“Hmm. I always thought I would be the father of her child.”
Before the boys were done grieving, Mesquite had his adult birthday. It was a great party, in spite of Mesquite and Paris both feeling deeply blue throughout. Baby Babcock was there, of course, and I enjoyed seeing these three men who’d grown up together, still keeping their friendship strong.
“Can there be such a thing as a sad birthday song?”
After the party, Kyler proposed.
“Let’s hook up, for good like, for the baby’s sake!”
Everybody showed up. Even folks who weren’t invited. It was a great wedding. Max Ernst, all decked out, came–just to show there were no hard feelings.
“I always thought I’d be the one standing at the altar with Acacia.”
“Ever think about marriage, Paris?”
The vows were touching to Acacia’s newly opened heart.
“I’ll make you happy. Today. “Everyday. And I’ll make our baby happy, too.”
It was a lot like Cedar and Timothy’s wedding–even down to the fridge and oven both breaking–only, being the hippies that they are, Acacia and Kyler didn’t bother dressing up.
“Ok! What’s next?”
Acacia kept up with her work-outs during pregnancy, not wanting to return to her earlier fridge-sized self.
“Keep goin’, baby! You’re looking great!”
And just when she was reading up on rocket science, Acacia felt something taking off inside of her.
“Oh! It feels like rocket science inside me!”
It looks like it’s time for generation 3!
Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology 