Andrew

July 2030

Andrew Goss is 30; Tracy Goss is 26;  Neal is 8; Tania is 6

Andrew had never really seen the point of making a bigger deal of 'milestone' birthdays. I mean, sure, you can contemplate your life at 20 or 30 or 40, but you could equally contemplate the past decade at 24 or 36 or 41. Now however, at age 30, he found himself drawn into reflecting back even so.

To be fair, his life was hugely different to the way it had been ten years ago. At 20, only a couple of years out of a childhood spent in children's homes and foster care, Andrew was completely without ties.

He travelled around, taking any job he could, and only staying until he had enough money to move on to the next town. Then, at 25, he'd come to Richmond.

He'd got a job as usual, but in a matter of months, he also had a girlfriend, a dog and an apartment. True, the only one of those things he still had now was the the dog, but he hadn't exactly shaken off the bonds of adult responsibility either.

He'd lost the job because of his somewhat chaotic relationship with the girlfriend. Then in quick succession he broke up with the girlfriend, got the apartment and got the dog. Then he got another job working for the brother of the woman who had just fired him. The ex-girlfriend left town, came back, and then started working for the same guy as Andrew. Not that it mattered because, by then, he had another girlfriend.

He'd met Tracy through an online dating site. She was living in a cottage in Bluewater Village that had belonged to her late grandparents, with her daughter Tania. 

She was also studying for a Communications degree at SSU. Their relationship had developed quickly, and Andrew (and his dog) left the apartment to move out to Bluewater village with her. 

Tracy's parents now owned the cottage, and they'd let her stay there rent free while she was in college. It was only fair that they start to pay after Andrew moved in with her. Money was tight but Tracy grew vegetables for them and Andrew did extra shifts, and they were a happy little family.

As for Andrew's other extended family, as he'd told Tracy they weren't really people you'd want to get to know. He'd kept in loose contact with a couple of relatives, though, and through them he learned about a distant cousin, a five year old boy who needed a home following the dissolution of his own family. 

Andrew's experiences in state care hadn't been too bad, but he'd heard the horror stories from others. And in any case, a home and family of your own were going to be better no matter what. They were far from rich but they were sure they could afford another child, and there was some government support for foster parents. Following a hectic series of appointments, lessons in kinship fostering, home reviews and legal advice, Neal joined their family.

Tania was used to being an only child, and it took her a while to accept Neal. After a couple of years, they now got on well. 

There was still the occasional argument, but no more than any other kids growing up in the same family. And they really were all family now, after Andrew and Tracy were married a couple of summers ago.

It was a quiet ceremony in their backyard, with only their children and Tracy's parents and a couple of close friends as guests.

They'd kept it small partly because of the cost, and partly because Tracey's friend Juliana was finally planning her own wedding for that autumn, and they didn't want to steal the attention from her when she'd had so many problems and delays.

They didn't have much money, but they tried to keep life interesting and fun for their kids. 

There were trips to the beach and picnics in the summer, and visits to interesting places like the local aquarium in the winter.

By her final semester of college, Tracy was unexpectedly pregnant. They had planned to have at least one child together, but nowhere near this soon. Fortunately the baby wasn't due until after final exams.

Andrew took over most of the cooking and cleaning...

... and cared for the kids when he wasn't working, so Tracey could study in peace.

 

The kids wanted to help too, in whatever way they could.

All their effort paid off. Tracy had graduated last summer, with their son Aiden was born less than two months later. 

Tracy's plan was to go into journalism, and she started working almost immediately as a freelance writer. She researched thoroughly, both on the topic she was writing about, and on the specifications of the publication she wanted to sell it to. 

As the months passed, she became a regular paid contributor to several magazines and websites. 

With two incomes now, the pair made a trip to the bank. Tracy's parents had never intended to keep the cottage long term, but Tracy and Andrew had come to love it and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. The mortgage application was successful, and they had their own home.

They'd known for a long time that the two bedroom cottage wouldn't be big enough when they grew their family. Tracy's grandfather had investigated adding a hobby room, and although he never got it done the plans had been drawn up and the building consent was still valid. They had the plans redrawn to make a couple of bedrooms, got eye-watering quotes, and accepted that it would be some years before they could get the work done. But it could be done, and the kids were still young. They had some time. Not much time, but some.

And just like that, suddenly Andrew was turning 30, with a wife, three kids (and a dog) and a mortgage on a house that needed significant work. And he was starting to wonder what the hell he'd done with his life. 

He absolutely didn't regret the marriage and kids, but here he was with a wife who had finished a college degree while pregnant and immediately started making a name for herself in her chosen field... and he was still working retail?

 There was nothing wrong with working at the bookstore in itself, Kyle paid well enough for what it was, and he was a good boss. But there was really no future in it, no way to advance himself. Kyle had two shops, and both had managers who seemed set to stay there. 

Even if there was the chance to take over from one of them, Andrew wasn't sure that was what the wanted. Jobs like that were fine when you're twenty and free. He needed something more.

He needed to go to college. 

No, that would mean they were worse off, not better, at least for the next four years. 

He needed to have gone to college four years ago. Or when he was 20 and had no responsibilities and access to the scholarship available to foster care kids for a couple of years after they finish high school.

Too late. Of course.

He needed a career. 

Now.

He turned on the computer and found a job hunting site. He was smart, and he'd always been lucky, too. How hard could this be?

---

This is part one of this family's story. These guys have never had an update in TS3, so there's a lot to get through. Things took an unexpected turn in my latest play session with them, too. I'm got some other updates scheduled so it will be a couple of sim-months before we get back to them for part two but I need some time to pass in-story anyway, for it to make sense.

Neal joined the family almost immediately after I recreated them in TS3. I had set up Story Progression for the household and turned off pregnancy - but I forgot to turn off adoption. Family-orientated sims that they are, the next time I went to play the household it had a new addition. I had played other households for some time and I didn't have a save before it happened, so he got to stay. I made him a family member of Andrew because that made more sense than a couple in their position intentionally seeking to adopt an unrelated child.

Everything Andrew describes in the first part of the story happened in game and on the blog - you can find the updates by following his tag. It was a slightly crazy period in the story, but it all seems to have worked out well in the end. 

Well, until now, when Andrew turned 30, aged up to Adult and immediately developed my first TS3 mid-life crisis.

Look at the number of days on that! My sim-year is 80 days so he's in for a ten year mid life crisis (my research tells me it's a quarter of whatever your adult lifespan is, my sims age up to Adult at 30 and Elder at 70 so that makes sense). I've no idea where this is going to lead us, beyond the first related want he rolled:

"Midlife Crisis wishes cannot be cancelled".  This is going to be interesting I think...