Together

Round 6: December 2012 (Winter) 

George Meadows is 55 and Belinda is 54

(Carlos is 47, Sofia is 44, Davina and Joel are 20, and Angel is 7)

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Narrated by George

Ever since my mild heart attack at the beginning of the year, I’ve been trying to take it easy.

I’m working less hours at work now which my doctor recommended. Since I’ve been promoted and primarily do research, I'm mainly just hanging around the science center with the other researchers anyway.

Clone researching isn’t exactly stress-free, but at least I can work at my own pace. And most of the time we’re consulting with other researchers in the lab and that’s hardly laboring.

I’ve also started to exercise more. I don’t know how long we’ve had this exercise bike but we’re definitely getting our money’s worth out of it now.

Being on this fitness kick has been rubbing off on Belinda, which is great. She’ll be 55 next year which I think scared her a little bit. She decided that it’s about time she started living a healthier lifestyle so she can be around to see Davina get married and have children.

Belinda has a hard time staying motivated when it comes to exercising, so I make sure we do things that she enjoys. She’s loved Tai Chi since we learned how to do it, so we do that several times a week.

I’d really love to go out for a jog in the mornings but Tai Chi and the exercise bike are really the only things we can do to exercise as of late. This winter has been brutal and we’ve been getting heavy snow for several weeks now.

We normally don't do much decorating for Christmas if we don't have company but, since Davina, Joel and Joel’s family will be celebrating here, we did a little more.

We still didn’t go too crazy, though. Just enough to make it look festive. Belinda and I hate spending too much money on this kind of stuff.

Davina and Joel have been dating since they were in high school, and here they are a year away from graduating college and we’ve never met Joel’s family. Belinda thought having them over to celebrate Christmas would be a great way to get acquainted.

I never think much of those types of things so I’m glad Belinda thought of the idea.

She’s really excited about it. She’s been telling me about all the different dishes she’s going to make and it sounds like it will be delicious. She doesn't know what she'll make yet but she's excited to go through her cookbooks.

She did make a point in telling me that since she was preparing the Christmas feast, I had to do the Christmas shopping. I don’t know how she suckers me into doing these things, but Belinda has her ways. 

For Joel’s parents’ gift, Belinda decided she’d finish up a painting she started months ago and give it to them. Since this is our first time meeting them, she thought that'd be a nice gesture.

I decided to start shopping for Joel’s little brother Angel first. I heard that a new toy store opened downtown a few weeks ago and thought I could find something there for him.

I didn’t realize a toy store could be so overwhelming. I haven’t stepped foot in one since Davina was small and shopping for a little boy I don't know was a lot harder than I thought.

But I remembered Davina told me that Angel’s into science and space, so I ended up getting him a spaceship replica and a copy of Spore.

For the kids we decided to keep it simple. They only have 1 year of college left, so we decided to write them a check to use however they wish. They could use it for school supplies or put it toward a deposit on their first apartment. Whatever they need. We want money to be the least of their worries when they're just starting out.

Belinda was last on my list, but the easiest to shop for. We’ve been married for so many years that we don’t do big gifts at Christmas anymore, so I know she’ll be happy receiving her favorite perfume and some earrings.

I don’t know why some folks dread Christmas shopping. It only took me a week to get all of the gifts and I didn’t have to fight anyone to get any of them.

On Christmas day, Davina, Joel, and Joel’s family all arrived at our house midafternoon.

Belinda and Joel’s mom Sofia seemed to hit it off immediately. They discovered that they’re both businesses owners and it turns out that Belinda’s second store downtown is just a few streets away from Sofia’s salon.

And they both have a huge love for music, so they really bonded over that.

Belinda just has that kind of personality, though. She just loves people and gets along with them so well, and they her.

I’m glad Davina takes after her mom in that aspect. Joel’s parents seem to like her a lot. But what’s not to like about my baby girl?

Carlos and I didn’t click as easily as the ladies did, however. He started talking about sports which just isn’t my thing. I can follow the games alright but I’m just not into it like some people.

For the most part, I just don’t have time to catch the games, so I don’t know the latest news on who was traded to which team or who was injured.

He’s not really into science, so when I started talking about what I do, he really didn’t “get it”. Carlos couldn’t see the point of all of my clone research which just baffled me. All of the benefits we could gain if we could clone things, animals, people! So many possibilities!

I don’t have a problem conversing with Joel. We get along very well and can always find something to talk about.

I think it'll just take some time for us to warm up to each other. I really want us to get along for the kids' sake. They’re really in love and Belinda and I really like Joel. We thought he had a good head on his shoulders when they started dating as teenagers, and it still holds true.

And he never hesitates to help out if anyone asks. Belinda can handle a meal like this anytime but she always appreciates when Joel lends a hand. He knows his way around the kitchen pretty well.

As Belinda promised, she made a fabulous Christmas feast with all the fixings. A roast, corn, mashed potatoes, and Joel made the cornbread.

We all nearly ate in silence because we wanted to savor every bite.

Davina finally broke the silence when she made the announcement that next month she and Joel might be moving into an apartment with a friend of theirs downtown for their last year of college. It’ll be closer to where Joel is interning while still being fairly close to campus.

They’re both really excited about the move and to start their last year at the university, but there are some details they need to work out first. Mainly financial but they think they might be alright.

Davina gave us a heads up that Angel was very shy but he must have really felt comfortable with us. As soon as he finished eating, he became a little chatterbox; telling us about school, his Harry Potter costume for Halloween, pretty much everything.

I think he shocked everyone, but in a good way.

I talked to him a little after dinner and he’s such a cool little kid. He really likes space and aliens and I just love how enthusiastic he is about it all.

I told him that he should think about becoming an astronaut when he grows up and that completely blew his mind.

I think that if he loves science and space that much when he’s about to enter college, he should definitely look into it. But I know he’s a little young to be thinking of all that right now.

After dinner we started to exchange gifts.

Angel was really thrilled with his gift and started playing with his rocket immediately.

Davina and Joel were completely surprised by our gift to them.

It’s exactly what they need to help them get settled in their new apartment with their friend next month, if that’s what they decide to do. It's perfect timing.

Notes:

-Well, my computer is finally back in working condition and has been running great! For those of you who didn’t see at N99 or Twitter, my hard drive died at the beginning of the month but luckily, I didn’t lose my hood (obviously). My laptop so graciously allowed me to back up my files but wouldn’t allow me to do anything else. Had to wait about 2 weeks for Dell to fix and ship back to me and boy, was that torture! Hopefully I won’t have to go through that ever again.

-When I showed a tour of Belinda and George’s new house last year, someone here or at N99 said that they bet the house would look nice decorated for Christmas. So I made sure I played them so I could see if they were right. I enjoyed searching for Christmas stuff and decorating for them. So, whoever it was, thanks for the suggestion!

-That absolutely fabulous toy store was made by lgdrypinkdot at N99. I want to go there in RL and play with all the toys.
-The other fabulous lot in this update was Carla's Sitko Faculty of Science. You can see the full lot tour here.
-In case you don’t remember from the last uni update, Paul Reid, (who is Joel’s best friend—now also Davina’s friend), graduated from uni and he was looking for a place to live. I loved Maisie’s warehouse but it was much too large for him to live by himself; but I couldn’t decide who I wanted to be his roommies. I had Belinda and George give Davina and Joel $4,500, so that, with their savings, should give them enough money to help out with the bills. I'll let you all know what comes of it all in the birthday post coming up next!