Sometimes, after a burst of creative energy, there comes a moment when one still feels the happiness from having created something magnificent, and one also feels very, very tired.
So very happy. So very tired.
That’s how Chandler felt after his three babies were born.
First, it was amazing to think that he and Salix had created twin masterpieces together. Then, it was literally incredible to realize that his sympathy pregnancy had resulted in an actual beautiful aqua-blue baby.
Luckily, since the gestation of an alien baby takes a few days longer than that of nonalien babies, the happy dad only had one exhausting day with three hungry, crying infants.
It seemed like every time he or Salix crawled into bed, one or the other of the three babies started crying. Even with four adults in the home to help with infant care, Mom and Dad felt sleep-deprived.
Chan is crawling back into bed, hoping to get a little uninterrupted sleep this time.
Doug Fir, though he was born second, rushed into childhood ahead of his sister. This might be the last time he ever rushed anything: he rolled the lazy trait. His great, great, great, way-back-to-gen 2-great uncle Mesquite was lazy. I like the trait. It makes a Sim laid back. Doug rolled out of his bassinet with pockets full of laid back jellybean stars.
In a burst of inspiration, his sister popped out. Tamarind rolled art-lover, just like her dad.
“My little sister looks like she’s made of stardust.”
Doug felt angry about having a sister. But at the same time, he really wanted to spend time with her. If she weren’t a little sister, she could make a pretty awesome friend! Like if she lived across the street.
She’s got her mom’s sly grin and her aunt’s sense of purpose.
What are you cooking up, Tamarind?
Her first autonomous action was to do her homework–now that’s a child with a sense of purpose!
“Oh. This is so hard. I’m just a little kid. What do I know about Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico?”
Not to be outdone by his sister, Doug Fir meandered through his homework, too. It’s not so bad when you can sit on a comfortable couch while working on it.
“What’s the problem? He’s just saying that the picture either fits reality or it doesn’t! Easy-peasy.”
Tamarind rolled “Whiz Kid” for her aspiration, which means she gets to have a lot of fun playing chess with her aunt…
“Why can’t you see the black knight at midnight? It’s too dark to see anything!”
and listening to her mom read stories.
“There is no picture which is a priori true – the logical picture of the facts is the thought.”
Due to the requirement to do homework while focused twice, the upcoming requirement to earn an A, and the intervening weekend, it will be a while before Tamarind finishes this aspiration. Not to worry! She’s developing her other skills at the same time. Social skill comes easily with a whole family of talkative, funny Sims.
Doug Fir rolled Rambunctious Scamp, which is a funny aspiration for a lazy kid. It’s lucky that the typing game builds motor skills. Since he can sit in a comfortable chair while playing it, Doug will play the game for hours.
The monkey bar, however, is another thing.
“What’s the hurry?”
He finally figured out that if he pretends he’s a sloth, the monkey bar’s not so bad.
“I bet I’m moving so slowly you can’t even see me move, right?”
I’ve realized that it’s lucky that he rolled Rambunctious Scamp–since he doesn’t seem to enjoy exercise, accomplishing this aspiration as a child will set him up to be a thin and healthy adult–even if he skips his daily workouts once he’s grown up.
Little onezero received a lot of love during infancy.
“My little blue baby!”
onezero rolled glutton, a trait that her aunt Sugar Maple has taught me to love.
Have you got a zest for experiencing life on this planet, little onezero?
“I’m just so happy to be here!”
“I can feel where my other lineage is,” said onezero to her sister, “far, far away. The atmosphere is very different there. Very different.”
“Is that why you wear that funny suit?” Tamarind asked.
“Yes,” said onezero. “It helps me breathe and helps that fluid flow. I don’t have to wear it all the time, since our dad’s from here. I just wear it when I need it.”
“I can see that other land when I close my eyes.”
onezero’s Artistic Prodigy aspiration is fitting, since she is the color of inspiration itself!
And there’s so much here that is fun to explore. Art provides a short-cut to understanding and experiencing life fully in the present moment.
Didn’t Wittgenstein write, “If by eternity is understood not endless temporal duration but timelessness, then he lives eternally who lives in the present?”
“Clay!”
Living in a home with three bright and funny children is a gift, and Miracle feels that her life has opened up into something amazing. Through her friendship with Sugar, whom she met when Sugar was not much older than onezero is now, she has become part of this family–a family of Sims who each shine in who they are! And this helps Miracle, too, become so fully her own self.
“What are you writing about, little one?” she asked while onezero did her homework.
“Wittgenstein,” onezero said. “It’s important that we understand the thought that has gone into contributing the mindset here, even if it is a mindset shared by only a few.”
“And what did he write that you find so interesting?”
“‘Our life is endless in the way that our visual field is without limit,'” onezero replied.
What does that even mean?
onezero and Doug chatted about their homework after the rest of the family went to bed.
“I like what he says about the problem disappearing,” Doug said. “It’s always simple, don’t you think, little sis?”
“I just like this message,” onezero replied, “Climb the ladder, then throw it away. See rightly. What can’t be talked about–that big mystery–be silent about! Just get through chatter, and then just live, right? It’s so simple!”
Kids! They’ve got a way of cutting through the plum!
Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology 