T w e n t y S i d e d

Kelly gives her mom a hug on the porch of the ‘new’ house. She is surrounded by luggage, but it isn’t hers, hers is still in the taxi. Michael is trying to look busy organizing Kelly’s things for her while she and her mother talk on the porch.  Kelly is on her way to her dad’s house, but has stopped to make sure that Michael and her mom are settled, first.  “He won’t mention it to you, but he’s got a shellfish allergy.” Kelly says, grasping at conversational straws.

“No shellfish…got it.” Lorretta replies, feeling suddenly as though she’s being left pet-sitting.

Kelly and her mom have never gotten along very well, but now, with Kelly’s pregnancy, leaving school, and boyfriend, there are too many elephants in the room to even pretend effectively.  Eventually, Kelly climbs back into her taxi. She and Michael say their goodbyes quietly and have a quick hushed conversation Lorretta cannot hear, before Kelly closes the window and the taxi drives away, leaving Michael behind.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sims 4 Overthinking: Michael”

Bay Jubilee Oldest child of Shamus Young. They/Them

The first order of business this week is scraping off wallpaper. Lorretta has help in the form of her oldest daughter, and the two of them spend a weekend taking the wallpaper down and out of the living room. They start working on the entryway before her daughter has to return to university, leaving Lorretta fully alone. Lorretta is in her fifties, and realizing very quickly that she hasn’t been entirely alone for more than a few days, ever. She’d moved right from her parents house into her married life of husband and children, and now she has a big open house to herself.

Some moments it’s nice, some it’s not, she’s conflicted on the subject.

She finishes taking the wallpaper down and out of the entryway, and debates back and forth hiring a professional.  On one hand, the work is hard and she’s doing it alone. A contractor would have the same job done in half the time and twice as good. On the other hand, though, Jimbo told Lorretta about the water damage upstairs, and she’s trying to save her budget for fixing that.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sims 4 Overthinking: Getting to Work”

Bay Jubilee Oldest child of Shamus Young. They/Them

The year is 2000, Lorretta Whitman is 55 years old, and she has just inherited 1605 Cottonview Lane, the house built by her grandparents in the early ’20s. She is going twice a week to Jimbo’s apartment to cook, clean, and help keep his medications organized for him.

He thinks it’s pity, but she’s worried it’s selfish. She doesn’t want to be at home. Home is quiet, and a little unsettling. She and her husband have two daughters who have now gone off to university. With the girls gone, it’s been hard for her to ignore the growing sense of distance and resentment she shares with the man she married. Instead, she has thrown herself into as many little jobs as she can.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sims 4 Overthinking: Good Bones”

Bay Jubilee Oldest child of Shamus Young. They/Them