Round 9: July 2014
Joe Carr and Madison November are 41 years old and Rachel is 4.
(Mark is 43.)
Narrated by Joe Carr
We spent Independence Day at Mark’s house. This is the first time we’ve seen Patrice so warm and bubbly. She must finally be used to us. I would hope so; she’s been with him for eight months.
Madison made sure to tell him that she thought he was doing a great job, and I could tell by his smile that it meant a lot to hear her say that.
All the moms in the neighborhood with children starting kindergarten in the fall arranged a playdate and somehow we got volunteered as home base. I don’t mind children in theory, but they tend to be loud and rowdy and not good when I’m studying for the bar exam.
However, I’m shocked that a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds were rather quiet, allowing me to study in relative peace.
And I passed. I am officially licensed to practice law. The firm I’d been doing paralegal work for picked me up immediately, with a big bonus. So now I’m handling personal injury cases, with an eye looking up.
Rachel already has a best friend, Rebecca October. She lives around the corner, and they’ve been together most days this summer. I’m glad being friendly is coming easier to her than it did to me.
She told me though that she worries that Rebecca will be her only friend, since the other children didn’t warm up to her as quickly as she did. I told her that it will be different when you see them all everyday, and she was sure to make more friends once the others got to know her.
I decided on a whim a week later to have her go to the private school. Madison, who I thought would be on board completely, was rather ambivalent, but she did help by making pork chops while I gave a tour of the house. The headmaster thought it was “quaint.”
He was swayed by the meal and who the new patrons would be. I’m not stupid; I could see the dollar signs in his eyes, but we got what we both wanted: an opportunity for some generous parents for him, and the best education we can buy for our daughter.
I want her to be ready for anything the world might throw at her and the first step is learning what that is. Now it’s up to her, and with Madison behind me teaching Rachel to read, she’ll be ahead of the curve.

Jodie feels good, even though she’s larger than she has ever been. She’s just ignoring how much Danny has been sulking since he moved here. Baby April is due in October.
- Title ref: This is How a Heart Breaks – Rob Thomas.
- So I forgot which household I was going to. Whoops.
- These three are insanely rich. I’m getting ready to move them to Richville. Or downtown. I was really just waiting for Joe to finish law school. Which he did about halfway through the update.
How do you play the private school? Will she still be in the school with Rebecca? It’s nice that Joe was able to pass his bar, and give his family a nice chunk of money! My wealthiest family is a legacy of lawyers and business owners. It’s definitely lucrative!
I haven’t quite worked out whether there will be a separate private school or if it will be an offshoot of the regular schools. Probably the latter option; the school I downloaded is huge and has enough room for an “advanced wing.” So Rachel and Rebecca will probably still be in the same school, but different classes.
I just realized I’ve never played the law career to the top from the bottom before! I’m not used to making my sims do something other than getting the skills and friends they need. It’s refreshing.
If Joe and Madison are already this rich before he even passed the bar…well, I think a move to swankier digs might be in order!
Really, I was just being lazy. The houses in Stoneview Circle are perfect for a little family like theirs, but I find moving to be supremely annoying; I don’t decorate very well.