As far as I’m concerned, my father is just some asshole that could never be bothered to even try to get to know me. I only met him once, and seeing him was like looking in a mirror. We have the same brown hair and bluish-grey eyes. If I can help it, sharing the same features is where it ends. I don’t want to be anything like him, so I feel this tremendous pressure to live my life being better than him. No one has set this standard; it came entirely from me.
They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. If my father is the tree, not only am I falling away from it…I’m rolling my ass completely in another direction. Why? Because I want him to know that I don’t need him…that I never needed him.
~ Kai
My mother is a hard worker. It’s what she’s done from the time I was born. I love and respect her for that, but there were times when she wasn’t emotionally available to me. Not because she didn’t want to be, she simply didn’t have a lot of time. I couldn’t talk to her about certain things because I knew it would make her feel guilty about some of her decisions. So I swallowed a lot of my feelings and just focused on keeping up the façade of being the perfect son. It’s the least I could do considering all she gave up to raise me alone, right? But then I wonder, was it my job to make her life easier? I mean, she chose to have me…not the other way around.
I guess none of it matters now because I become a young adult today, and it’ll be up to me to make the most out of my life or totally f*ck it up. I enter the kitchen where ma and my Pop-pop are waiting for me. Pop-pop has been living with us for a few days now, and we both love having him around. He’s a great cook and is incredibly lively and energetic for an older man. He’s the man in my life that I admire the most, and I’d love to be like him. I step up next to him and blow out my birthday candles, feeling anxious as I become a young adult.
(Kai’s Aspiration: Renaissance Sim/Quick Learner Traits: Adventurous, Outgoing, Happy Toddler, Hot-Headed Aspiration Award Traits: Responsible, Observant, Gym Rat, Speed Reader, and Cold Acclimation.)
Ma insists that it’s a family tradition to take a birthday picture, so I stand still long enough for her to take one. Then we sit down to eat birthday cake for breakfast. It’s not until I look over at the Winterfest tree and decorations that I realize my birthday fell on a holiday this year. That’s cool…because it means that all the focus won’t be on me.
I manage to take exactly two bites of my cake before the questions begin.
Prosperity: Did you decide on where you will go to school?
Kai: Foxbury, ma. I want to go to Foxbury and enter the distinguished Biology major.
I hold my breath, waiting for the blowback and list of all the reasons why I should go to Britechester – her alma mater. It doesn’t come. She smiles instead.
Prosperity: Good! That’s a great decision.
I should have expected her to support me. She’s never been an overbearing mom.
Kai: Thanks, ma. I was also considering living in the dorms, but I don’t know about that part yet.
Prosperity: Whatever you decide. This will always be your home.
Deciding whether to stay home and commute or live in the dorms is a big decision, and I appreciate having the room to sort it out for myself. Both have their pros and cons. I grab the dirty dishes, take them to the kitchen while I pretend not to overhear ma and Pop-pop talking about how proud they are of me. They continue their little discussion while I put away the leftover birthday cake.
Having a birthday fall on Winterfest is a bit odd because I’m sure my friends are off celebrating the holiday with their families. I don’t have any plans to celebrate, so I go to the local gym instead once I learn that it will be open for a limited time today.
Despite the cold, I go out back to the rock climbing walls. Rock climbing is a skill that I’ve been anxious to try ever since we learned about the climbers of Mt. Komorebi in school. I’ve made it one of my goals to put together a team and climb it one day, but to do that – I have to take the first step and learn to climb.
Within a few moments, I realize why it’s not something that everybody does. It’s hard, incredibly hard. I’m using muscles I didn’t even know I had to keep myself from falling off the wall. But I keep at it for as long as I can.
After some success in gaining the rock climbing skill, I head downstairs to take a dip in the pool. I’ve been dying to swim in our pool at home, but since it’s outdoors and it’s the middle of winter – that’s not happening. So I climb up on the diving platform to jump in, but the daredevil in me screams at me to try out a backflip.
I manage the perfect flip. Apparently, athleticism runs on both sides of the family, and I’m glad I inherited it.
(Generation 3 Chapter Summaries)
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