The Smith Family has moved in to a wonderful suburban home in Willow Creek. Richard has begun working at the local hospital and has moved up quickly to the position of Assistant Nurse. As Izzie was still young, Elizabeth had decided to stay at home in order to care for the youngster. She enjoyed the quality time she is able to spend with her daughter, as well as her other two children, even if William can be a bit of a handful at times.
Once Izzie entered school, Elizabeth found it hard to be at home all day alone, and decided to begin a career. She found out she loved painting while on a date with her husband, and that became her career. [more...]
Emilie entered high school just as her brother moved out. Her experience with drama club in grade school taught her one thing, she wanted everyone to know her name. Emilie spent much of her time recording videos and posting them for the world to see just to get her name out there. She even employed her sister as her editor. Of course, employed is an apt word, and Izzie began to feel under-appreciated, and not just by her sister. After a fight with her mother, Izzie ran away from home. Fortunately she only went to her brother's apartment, and eventually she came back. It did teach her family not to take advantage of her though. They would go on to try and include her more. [more...]
Back-to-back birthdays plagued the Smith Family as Richard, Elizabeth, and Emilie all hit major milestones. Elizabeth has retired from her career as a professional painter, but still paints for fun. Richard has decided to stick with his job for the time being. Meanwhile Emilie is now a young adult and had a decision to make, to stay at home or go out on her own. She let her acting success decide the answer, and quickly lined up her first gig. [more...]
After Emilie aced her first audition, Izzie knew it was only a matter of time before her sister, who was now a young adult, would move out on her own. Emilie may have doubts about her acting ability, but Izzie didn't, so she tried to steel herself for the eventuality that this cozy family home she had grew up in would soon start feeling quite empty.
The day of Emilie gig came much to quickly for Izzie's liking. She even found herself wishing her sister wouldn't do well just for a few extra weeks with her at home. Nevertheless, she wished her well as she headed off to the studio.
She would find out a few hours later that Emilie had done more than well. Part of her was happy for her sister, but another part was quite sad for herself. She knew what this meant. Emilie would want to find a place of her own so she could focus on her career. Izzie thought she was prepared, but, after Emilie moved out the next morning, she found out she was far less prepared than she thought.
That day, you see, was Saturday. Izzie had no school, and had spent several Saturdays with Emilie, either shooting hoops, working out, or just watching her stream while playing the violin. She, of course, would not be doing any of these things. She wouldn't even be doing any video editing. Emilie had taken all of her gear. The only thing she had to look forward to was her parents redecorating Emilie's room, which was not something she even wanted to see, let alone be a part of.
Izzie, therefore, spent the entire day in her room. She started practicing programming then moved on to reading more about vampires. All the while she wished she could be doing something else anything else as long as her sister was there. She only hoped that eventually she would get over missing her sister just as she had with her brother.
Richard was older now, and, though he was a surgeon, he quickly found that his days would actually be spent doing many of the same things as he had been doing before, and that they would not be a easy as he had thought the day after his promotion. In fact, if anything, they were more involved as he was still expected to help keep the hospital running.
While calibrating one of the X-Ray machines Richard had time to once again think about retiring. His pension would be quite a nice sum if he retired as a surgeon. It was certainly something they could afford, even if he didn't get as much as he thought he would. Of course he was one step away from chief of staff, so he wondered if he should just wait.
After he finished the calibration he returned to the exam rooms. The other doctors were busy so he helped out. That is when his thoughts turned completely around. It felt wonderful diagnosing patients again. In fact he really missed working with the children. Adult patients could be difficult, but children were easy and grateful when he was around.
Of course, after helping out so much, there was another surprise waiting for Richard, one that would ensure he stayed at the hospital for at least the next few weeks. Richard was no longer a surgeon, he was promoted to Chief of Staff and would now be running the hospital!
Another Love Day started and Izzie had a bold plan. There was a girl she had known for quite some time, since grade school, and she knew she really like her. Problem was she wasn't sure how this girl felt about her. Same-sex coupling wasn't exactly unheard of at their school, nor was it really taboo or anything. Its just you could never tell how anyone would react, but Izzie really wanted to know how this girl felt.
That Love Day Izzie invited this girl to The Old Salt House in San Myshuno. She hoped, if things didn't go just as she hoped she could play everything off as a joke or something and they could just go dancing. The Old Salt House seemed to be the best choice since it was casual, but had an intimate atmosphere to.
Izzie didn't show her date to the dance floor just yet. She opted for one of the tables tucked away under the catwalk where she hoped to chat with the girl and discover how she felt. She complimented her and even tried a bit of flirting. Wouldn't you know it? She was actual interested!
By the end of the night not only did she knew how the girl felt, but would also walk away from the club with a girlfriend. Of course, Izzie wasn't done at the place even after her date left. Despite knowing about the 9pm curfew and a few texts from her dad, Izzie stayed out a bit to work on a mural she had started. She never really understood that curfew, and the night and really inspired her.
The work day started out pretty much like any other work day for Richard as Chief of Staff. He thought about his aging body and his ability to do the job as he calibrated an X-Ray machine. He diagnosed and treated a few sims, and even added studies to a medical journal.
Not all days were exactly routine at a hospital, however. Just as Richard was adding data to a study he heard a page over the loud speaker. Someone had collapsed at the entrance. Richard knew that most of his staff would be busy, but it was important to assess the situation quickly. He sprung to action and ran to the front reception area.
Richard had to keep the crowd calm as he assess the sim that had collapsed. Fortunately the presence of a doctor was enough to settle the two sims that had witnessed the collapse and Richard was able to get the woman stabilized and diagnosed.
Sadly the diagnosis was somewhat urgent. The woman needed surgery right away or she might not make it. All that practice as a surgeon would pay off as Richard successfully treated the woman. She left the hospital no worse for wear and Richard was filled with a sense of accomplishment that the mundane routines very rarely afforded him.
After the emergency situation was cleared, Richard returned to his normal duties. He entered one of the exam rooms a patient had already been admitted too. He was a bit surprised to find out that, that patient was his own grand-daughter, Morgana. Thanks to Cassandra and William's hectic lives he had not seen her since her birthday. Now was not the time to catch up though, he had to be professional and treat her like he would any other patient.
Just because she was his grand-daughter doesn't mean she could avoid a shot when it was medically necessary. She might not have like him sticking her, but Richard knew it was for the best. He treated her as he would have treated any other patient. He only hoped that she wouldn't hold anything against him. Of course, if she did, maybe he could use that as an opportunity to speak with his son again.
On most days Izzie actually ate breakfast with her aging parents, but today she had some work to do. She knew her birthday was coming up and wanted to make sure she had all the skills she needed to essentially follow in her brother's footsteps. She wasn't sure yet if she wanted to be a champion gamer, or maybe a programmer, or perhaps she'd just give this a shot and decide to quit and become a l33t haxxor. Whatever she chose she needed to work on programming, so she decided to take breakfast in her room to maximize the time she had on the computer before school.
Of course she, seeing as she didn't exactly wake up early, Izzie still didn't have a whole lot of time before school to do any programming. With tunes going, time just seemed to fly by and it was already time for her to go to school. She wasn't even sure if she had made any real progress, but hoped it would be enough for now. She didn't want to miss school like she had done so many times when she was younger, so she stopped midway through and headed for school.
With Izzie off to school and Richard off to work, Elizabeth decided to head to B&W Café for a quick coffee and a bite to eat. She had, however, underestimated just how much of a celebrity she was. She planned for a quick visit, just a cup of coffee at a corner table, but her quick visit ended up being more than an hour and more than just a cup of coffee as she had to stop to hug, take selfies with, and give autographs to fans.
The café was pretty close to William's house, in fact it was just two buildings down. She hadn't seen her son or her grandchildren since Morgana's birthday. At that time Amellia was still in Cassandra's belly. She went to stop by, but, everyone was gone. Cassandra had work, Morgana was at school, and William had taken Amellia out.
Emilie's house wasn't far from the café either, so, as Elizabeth had her from her husband that Luna had passed, she decided to head over and see if she could comfort her daughter. She could stay there until her son came home. That way she wouldn't be going all that far.
Fortunately Emilie was home, but she was pretty busy preparing for another audition. She did let Elizabeth make herself at home. The two talked a bit about Luna, but Emilie seemed to be taking the death pretty well. Of course Luna's ashes were in an urn right in the center of her coffee table, so Elizabeth had to wonder if she was taking things as well as she thought.
Not wanting to overstep, Elizabeth left Emilie's place a bit before Morgana would be back from school. She headed over to a food stall near the gym across from Emilie's place for a quick bite before heading back up the road to her son's house.
By the time Elizabeth arrived at her son's, William was already getting ready for work. Cassandra was rushing around to motherly things. Elizabeth briefly remembered what it was like when Izzie was a toddler. Fortunately she hadn't really come to see either William or Cassandra, but her granddaughters and Morgana was just sitting on the couch watching TV.
Once Morgana saw her grandmother at the door, she turned the TV of and rushed over to let her in. They cuddled on the couch and enjoyed a pleasant conversation. It was nice to finally get to talk to Morgana after not seeing her in so long.
After their nice conversation Elizabeth asked Morgana where her sister was. Morgana was reminded that Amellia wasn't even born yet the last time she saw her grandmother and told her she wasn't really sure, but she was probably upstairs in either girl's room. Elizabeth thanked the girl and headed upstairs.
Elizabeth found Amellia playing with dolls in Morgana's room. As Amellia was still young a conversation would be difficult, so Elizabeth just played dolls with her until it was time for her to see about making dinner for Richard and Izzie.
Once Elizabeth got home she began making dinner, but Izzie went out the door. Izzie didn't even tell her parents that she was meeting her girlfriend in Widenburg. She just headed for the club. What was shocking was the fact that she didn't even get a text from them, maybe they were used to her just going out whenever she felt like it by now.
Izzie enjoyed the music by the DJ with her girlfriend for a bit, but soon realized she was a lot more hungry than she thought she was when she just up and left the house. She decided to leave her friend alone while she headed to the bar for a bit of fish and chips.
On her way to the bar Izzie had noticed a closet. There was a lot of things she could think of to do in a closet, but one of them in particular involved her girlfriend. Once she was done eating she went and found her and pulled her into the closet for a bit of fun experimentation.
After having so much fun Izzie was, sadly, too tired to keep the night going. She said good bye to her girlfriend and headed home for a nice shower and a well-deserved sleep.
This day would be filled with a mixture of emotions. It was Izzie's birthday and she was becoming a young adult. Neither Elizabeth nor Richard really expected her to move out right away, but it was becoming more apparent, as Elizabeth sat Izzie down for her birthday painting, that the couple would soon have an empty nest.
William and Emilie had already moved out, and the youngest child, a toddler when they moved into their new home, was now getting ready to branch out on her own. No one could be sure when that would actually happen, but that was part of the issue. Richard and Elizabeth didn't know when this once cozy, and sometimes crowded, home would just be a large, empty house.
Although Richard took the day off from work, Izzie decided she should probably attend her last day of high school. Any birthday celebration would, therefore, not be until after she got back. Elizabeth had laundry and cleaning to do, not to mention she had a cake to bake, but Richard had very little to do. He spent his day practicing bar trick while Elizabeth was in the kitchen, and helping with laundry or upgrading appliances when she was not.
Finally the time came for the cake to be placed on the table with candles in it. Izzie had invited her girlfriend over so she could celebrate with everyone, but, like most birthdays since Izzie entered grade school, there was little fanfare. Everyone gathered around the cake, Izzie blew out the candles and she was now an adult. Everyone would sit and chat for a bit, which was a great opportunity for Richard and Elizabeth to meet the girl Izzie had broke so many curfews with.
Once everyone was gone Izzie headed to her room. Her parents probably thought she was just going to do some programming or, worse yet, play video games, but she had other plans. Izzie immediately went over and signed up to work in the quality assurance department at a technology firm. She wasn't sure how long she'd stick with the job, but it sounded cool, and it was what William did, so she kind of knew what to expect. With that Izzie was well on her own way to true adulthood.
Izzie may still be living at home with her parents, but that doesn't mean she was subject to the same rules that she was when she was growing up. She was an adult now, and, if she wanted to go out late at night she could. There was nothing that could really stop her. Of course all that she had stopping her before was an intense glare from her father and annoying texts, which really weren't much of a deterrent, but now she wouldn't even have those to worry about.
It was just passed her old curfew when Izzie decided to call her girlfriend up and see if she wanted to head to a club with her. Even though the other girl was probably a bit more responsible, and it was a weekday, she agreed.
Izzie was hungry so the first thing she did was escort her significant other to the bar where they shared a platter of meats and cheeses. The two danced for a bit, but than Izzie got a diabolical idea.
Izzie beckoned her girlfriend back into the closet for a bit of a make out session. She always found it interesting how, even in a crowded club, very few people seemed to notice or care when anyone just randomly entered the coat closet near the bar. She had an idea of how to get everyone to notice her, but didn't care much if they notice what was going on in the closet.
After making out with Marisol, Izzie got on one knee right in front of the closet and pulled out a ring. She had literally known this girl since she was a child and, over the years, her feelings for her had grown. It was time for them to take yet another step together. Fortunately Marisol agreed and the two were engaged. Unfortunately no one noticed Izzie's gesture other than Marisol. Oh well, the most important person knew about it and that's all that mattered.
As both Richard and Izzie worked while Elizabeth enjoyed retirement, there were still days where Elizabeth was alone at home. Now Izzie and Richard didn't have the exact same schedule so this wasn't quite as bad as when Izzie was in school, but it did leave days that needed filling. Fortunately, Elizabeth's old bones didn't keep her away from her favorite gym in Widenburg. Sure she couldn't workout quite as much as she used to, but she could still move and that was often enough.
On one such visit Elizabeth was surprised to see her daughter, Emilie, there. Normally Emilie had worked out at the gym in Newcrest or at home, but Emilie wasn't actually at the gym to work out. She had something to show her mother. She was pregnant with Elizabeth's fourth grandchild. Elizabeth was so happy not just or Emilie, but for herself. She was starting to have the big happy family she had invisioned. Emilie was also a successful actress, William was a champion gamer with two daughters, and soon Emilie would have two children of her own.
In celebration, Elizabeth decided to accompany Emilie back to Sulani to see her grandson, Angel as well as just spend some more time with her daughter. She was done with working out, but that didn't mean she didn't have a little bit of energy left to play with the toddler. Angel seemed to enjoy the time just as much as she did.
Of course, Elizabeth couldn't help but notice the gnomes. Emilie had said they were from the last Harvestfest and that she hadn't had time to get rid of them yet. Elizabeth was just happy to see halos and seed packets. It seemed at least someone in the household and finally figured out how to appease the wretched things.
Elizabeth took care not to leave her other grandchildren out. At three she headed over to Newcrest where she would stop by William's place to see Amellia and Morgana. The last time Elizabeth was here Amellia was still a toddler she was pretty suprised when the girl who greeted her at the door was a grade school child. They certainly grew up quickly. At lesson Elizabeth should have learned awhile ago.
Amellia had informed Elizabeth that Morgana was upstairs in her room. Elizabeth had heard what had happened to the girl from her son, she wasn't sure what to expect when she went up to Morgana's room. She was relieved to find that Morgana sure seemed just like the little girl she had met before. In fact, she almost didn't even notice the cute fangs she now sported. She may have been a bit more melencholy than before, but she was still Morgana and she still loved playing dolls with her grandmother.
Before heading out, Elizabeth decided to sit Amellia down just to catch up and see how she was doing. Amellia told her of her struggles at school and some of the fun she had with her sister. She seemed to be doing really well. When Elizabeth asked about how it was living with a vampire as a sister Amellia just said it was fine. In truth Elizabeth did worry that Morgana might turn her family into meals, but she didn't really think that was in Morgana's character. It was really just a passing thought. After hearing Amellia describe her sister though Elizabeth was certainly that at least she was safe.
All through high school Izzie had spent a good amount of her free time programming and playing video games. This was now her job! One would think this would make going to work easier, and, perhaps it did, but she was still a slave to someone else's schedule and someone else's whims, which she was not entirely fond of. Nevertheless, she had a goal in mind which made working hard, and going to work in general, that much easier for her. She was engaged, and she wanted to marry her sweetheart and be able to move out of the family home, finally. She loved her room, and her parents didn't seem to hard-pressed to let her go, but her older siblings had all moved out and each had a family of their own. Though the vary idea of kids scared her to death she wanted to have a family with Marisol at least, so she kept working, and eventually she became a Project Manager. Now seemed the perfect time to plan a wedding!
Emilie had just had a major renovation completed on her house, so Izzie had decided to make that the venue, and she decided Richard good just be the bar tender. The day of the wedding, Richard decided to get some extra practice with some of his bar tricks so he could impress his daughter's guests. Well one trick involved fire, and that trick didn't quite go so well. There hadn't been a fire in this house, that wasn't caused by gnomes, since they moved in, but there was always a first time for everything. Fortunately, the three Smiths were able to put out the fire with some ease. Izzie wasn't sure, however, if this was good or bed omen, but she was certain she wasn't going to let it ruin her wedding!
After the fire was out it was time to head over to Emilie's newly renovated home and start this wedding party! Izzie wasn't exactly feeling one-hundred percent, but she wasn't going to let that slow her down anymore than the fire. She was marrying Marisol, her childhood friend, and that was that!
Once the guest were all juiced up and gathered in Emilie's new rooftop garden overlooking the islands of Sulani, it was time for Izzie and Marisol to exchange vows. Even while covered in weird spots, Izzie was positively glowing as she professed undying love for her soulmate. Fortunately, Marisol's words were just as sweet.
With vows exchanged the couple were now married. Everyone, including Izzie's favorite niece, Morgana, gathered near the rooftop bar for drinks. Izzie ordered around of cream colas for everyone. She picked the drink so even Morgana could be included.
Once everyone had a chance to toast the new couple it was time for dancing and then it was time for the cake cutting ceremony. There may not have been the fireworks that William had at his wedding, but, it was a nice ceremony nonetheless. Soon guests started to disperse and it was time for the brides to head home. Only Marisol wasn't exactly sure where she should go. Izzie was still living with her parents, but they didn't mind her coming over for a night. In fact, Elizabeth had plans.
Once back at the Smith Family residence, Marisol was sat down in the chair in Elizabeth studio and Elizabeth began painting the new addition to their family. She wished she had thought of this when either William or Emilie had gotten married, but there was still time to get pictures of Cassandra and Lucas. Either way she decided to just start it now.
It was nice having Marisol there too, but Richard and Elizabeth new that this was merely the beginning of Izzie's new life. Soon, too soon, she would finally move out, and the Smith Family residence would soon feel hallow and empty, but that was a worry for another day.