Hateful Crab!

        Not Sims-related in the least. Just me in the middle of a rage. As the two or three of you who check out this blog regularly know, I lost my Dad last September when the Crab came back for a second assault. It was officially a heart attack that took him but he'd stopped eating and was coughing a lot. The autopsy confirmed the presence of cancer in his liver and lungs. I know that cancer can come back more than once and that one is never truly safe and/or cured until they die of something completely unrelated to it. This was shocking and terrible, but not a total surprise.
       The Crab took away Alan Rickman, David Bowie, and many other wonderful people last year. I'm hoping it's just that it's been reported and announced more these days - otherwise it might seem like the number of cancer-related deaths is rising. There was a time when cancer was a dirty little secret and kept buried away in the family skeleton closet. Now there are more people surviving it because it's caught early enough for treatments to work. I'm still working through my feelings as far as Dad's passing goes. He's not here with us and he should be. It's called saudade from the Portuguese language (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade) and I'm neck-deep in it.
       Why am I yammering about this now? My grandma died from cancer as well - pancreatic; what took Bowie and Rickman away so quickly - and hearing about anyone dying from it saddens and angers me just a bit. It was seeing the following news that just caused me to explode a bit.

http://globalnews.ca/news/3252212/stewart-mclean-vinyl-cafe-dead/

       I love the 'Vinyl Cafe' books and admired Stuart McLean to no end. Losing him at the age of 68 hurts. As a result, I am sad and angry once again and just getting my rage on in here. Rest in Peace, honoured man. You shall never be forgotten in the Canadian heartlands and small towns. You shall be treasured and your books praised for many years to come.
      Okay. I am going to close this up before I need to break out the Kleenex.

It Happened in the Fall

 As the last leaves fell from the trees and the first hoary days of winter approached, Paulus sensed a change had come - something unwelcome. It felt at times as if Delaney was pulling away. He had nothing to back up his doubts so instead of investigating he decided to get more involved in family business.

 While her mate took the kids out for walks and cleaned up the house more often, Delaney would surreptitiously meet with her lover. Sometimes she had no choice but to bring her daughter. While Niamh would play with her dolly Delaney would have her own... fun.

 It is said that you can fool the people who work above you but never the ones who work below. Sooner or later, skeletons come out. In this case, it was the babysitter who passed a couple of photos to Paulus that he taken of Delaney and her lover.

 Paulus wasn't sure what hurt worse - that his beloved had cheated or that his worries hadn't been groundless. While Delaney was out 'for a walk' Paulus burned dinner as he stared into space; wrestling with his emotions. What was he going to do?

 That evening, Delaney came home to a burned dinner and a silent husband. The babysitter had taken the kids to a neighbour's. Delaney's heart sank. How had he found out? Who'd betrayed her to him?
In the bedroom she tried to explain herself. He put up a hand, his voice cold with anger. "Not a word. You've done enough."

The next morning Paulus began packing a suitcase while Delaney took one of the kids out for a walk.
"Mama? We go in now?"
"Not yet, angel. We'll take another turn around the block."
"Dada mad, Mama."
"I know, angel. Dada will be mad for a while."

A Growing Issue

 In the beginning they were two. Paulus and Delaney had a deep, abiding love for each other. Every day, when he got home from work, she greeted him with a kiss and it usually continued onward from there.

 Naturally, when a couple is that active, things can happen. And they did... a fair bit.

 It started with two. Paulus went to work and Delaney stayed home to teach their children how to properly exercise their minds and bodies.

 First it was two, and then it was two more. Paulus was overjoyed at the way things were going with his growing family. Delaney was happy too but she had a life too and it was being taken up with changing diapers and waking up in the dead of night to care for these little ones.

 Paulus bragged to no end about how wonderful his family was but behind the scenes he refused to get involved. Then came that day when he invited his boss over for dinner. He had a great deal of respect for his boss. Delaney soon came to have a great deal of respect for the man as well.

One Sunday afternoon, while Paulus showed off the kids to his neighbours, Delaney paid a visit to the Boss. He took her on a tour of the house and took great delight in showing her his shower. She decided she wanted a closer look.
On her return she gleamed with health and cleanliness. Paulus was none the wiser.