1970s: Two Birthdays and a Funeral
Around the same time that 1977 becomes 1978 Cindy becomes a teenager. The entire family, apart from Cathy who cannot make the long trip, gather at Arthur and Claudia's place. They eat on the patio, as well as inside, and generally have a great time together. Then Cindy blows out her candles, and Claudia sees her youngest go from little girl who hugs teddy bears to a beautiful young woman. She cannot help but to feel a pang of sadness that time has passed so quickly.
The next night, it's time for Steven to attend prom. He's not really interested, especially since he doesn't have a date, but his parents insist that he will regret it if he doesn't go. Perhaps they'd be right, because once there, he sort of does have fun.
He doesn't dare to ask the pretty girls to dance, so he mostly dances on his own.
Then he sees that Sandra does too. She's plain enough that he dares ask her to dance.
She even listens to his crazy theories on how robots will take over the world.
Steven is not the only one dancing this Saturday. At Foxbury, Beth and her roommates have headed to the Maritime Manor, just like Ken and Susan once did.
Beth spends the night dancing and speaking to this kind of cute guy, but in the noise of the music, she never catches his name. A shame. He seemed nice. She hopes she can run into him again sometime. Foxbury isn't that large.
University is more than dancing, however, and the next day, Beth has to make up for it by putting in extra time writing on her term paper on the university's new state of the art computers. Unlike her Uncle, Beth can definitely see the perks of the computer over the typewriter.
As a surprise, her parents show up to see her. A perfect time to ask Arthur to help her work out the kinks of her studies.
Once he has, Beth takes her parents to the spirit celebration. While her dad feels right at home, her mom is fascinated and wants to know everything about university life and even more about the lectures and work. Beth answers all her mother's questions, and introduce her to some of her classmates.
Over in Britechester, across the country, Cathy does not have the luxury of their parents visiting. Instead she makes sure to socialise as much as she can with everyone at her dorm. It's hard, being so far away that she misses everything. Her grandparents' funeral, her sister's birthday, but she is adamant that she will do her best and succeed with her studies.
She also puts in her hours for the arts club.
And the spirt core.
It doesn't hurt matters that one of her roommates, Brandon, has the most dreamy eyes and more importantly quite seem to like looking into hers too. It definitely doesn't hurt when he suddenly kisses her. Maybe she really is good at this romance thing, after all.
On the other side of the country, love is more complicated. While Ken acknowledges that he was the one to break up with Elizabeth, he still doesn't take the news of her marrying someone else so soon well.
"I was supposed to find someone new first," he complains to Susan.
Susan would probably be a bit more sympathetic (perhaps) if she didn't have her own issues to deal with. Tony has said nothing more about divorce, he comes and goes more or less as he wants, and Susan is too scared to mess anything up, and to ashamed of what is going on, to even admit it to Ken. So she listens to him, hopes Tony won't show up while he's there, and then spends most of the rest of her time off alone in her apartment, listening over and over to this obscure song she found at the local record shop by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. called "Saving All My Love for You". It's not music she'd normally listen to, or even care for, but since coming across it by chance at the record store, she cannot get rid of the feeling that it's written entirely for her.
During her days, she's out and about, working and climbing in her career. Locally they're making great headway, and she's been working hard at turning a place where people mostly dumped their broken stuff into a thriving community garden. For days, weeks, she's been cleaning up trash and building playgrounds and planters. Builders have been working on the small house to turn it from public restroom to a little café. She's proud of her work, and she feels strong and independent when she's working.
Once the building phase is over, the entire community helps with the planting.
But then when she comes home, she's just aimlessly waiting for Tony to come over, and for her to feel truly and utterly alive. She finds herself addicted to his smiles, to the kind words, to the looks he gives her of utter adoration, when he tells her that she's the only one for him, that only she understands him.
And those time makes up for the times when he doesn't feel good. When he comes over in a testy mood, and takes it out on her. And those are the moments where she doesn't dare ask, or push, because she knows that will be enough to tick him off, leave him shouting at her or storming out.
Usually she can turn him around, by not getting upset, by backing down and ensuring that she understand that this situation is stressful for him. She's happy her empathic nature is teaching her what to do to make him relax.
The worst part, however, is waking up alone, to find that he has snuck out into the night to return to his family leaving her behind once more. She knows she should stop it, or tell him to make up his mind and choose once and for all, but everything she thinks of trying she finds herself frozen in terror that he won't choose her. And so she stays silent one more time, and loses a little bit more of herself in the process.
As Steven's birthday rolls around, Susan is feeling so ashamed she barely wants to go home. How will she look her mother in the eye without telling her everything right then and there? But of course she cannot stay at home. Her brother is becoming a young adult, and she - along with everyone else in the family save for Cathy - are expected to be there.
As usual, her mother has spared no effort on the food and cake. As they enjoy dinner, Thomas reflects on the extraordinarily good genes that Betty has. Her mother looks as though she has barely aged a day in the more than twenty years they've been married.
Not everyone can fit inside, so a fair few eat their dinner in the garden, where Michael and Barbara are happy to talk about environmental issues with Susan and she can focus on just not saying too much about anything else. The resent flooding in the Bay Area gives them plenty to talk about that does not include Susan's messed up love life. It makes the conversation easier, even if Cindy can't always keep up with the conversation.
When it's time for the cake all of them gather inside to sing and throw confetti.
As he blows his candles and ages up, his mother feels a pang of pride and grief at the same time. Her baby, all grown up, ready to leave the nest as he too find his way to college. She realises that with this, her life aspiration, to be the best parent she can be, is fullfilled.
What should she do with herself now?
No one else at the birthday party notices that she stays a bit quiet for the rest of the night. Susan is mostly happy that her mother doesn't have her usual eagle eye for how her children are feeling.
Thomas makes another effort in persuading Anna to move in with them. "We worry about you," he says. "If something happens you are so far off. What if you fall? You're closing on 90!"
Anna first says no again, but the next day something happens to change her mind:
For Anna, Cora was a nearly life long friend, and her death hits her hard. It also hits home that she is the only one in her generation left in the family. Maybe Thomas is right? Maybe she needs to be closer to her family. Packing up her home she moves in with Thomas and Betty, taking the time to curate which of her many pictures can fit onto the wall of Susan's old room.
Another member of the family that is hit hard by Cora's passing is Barbara. She is also the beneficiary of her will and the one to arrange her funeral. She goes to visit her nephew in Del Sol Valley, knowing that other than Anna he is the one who will miss Cora most.
The next night, it's time for Steven to attend prom. He's not really interested, especially since he doesn't have a date, but his parents insist that he will regret it if he doesn't go. Perhaps they'd be right, because once there, he sort of does have fun.
He doesn't dare to ask the pretty girls to dance, so he mostly dances on his own.
Then he sees that Sandra does too. She's plain enough that he dares ask her to dance.
She even listens to his crazy theories on how robots will take over the world.
Steven is not the only one dancing this Saturday. At Foxbury, Beth and her roommates have headed to the Maritime Manor, just like Ken and Susan once did.
Beth spends the night dancing and speaking to this kind of cute guy, but in the noise of the music, she never catches his name. A shame. He seemed nice. She hopes she can run into him again sometime. Foxbury isn't that large.
University is more than dancing, however, and the next day, Beth has to make up for it by putting in extra time writing on her term paper on the university's new state of the art computers. Unlike her Uncle, Beth can definitely see the perks of the computer over the typewriter.
As a surprise, her parents show up to see her. A perfect time to ask Arthur to help her work out the kinks of her studies.
Once he has, Beth takes her parents to the spirit celebration. While her dad feels right at home, her mom is fascinated and wants to know everything about university life and even more about the lectures and work. Beth answers all her mother's questions, and introduce her to some of her classmates.
Over in Britechester, across the country, Cathy does not have the luxury of their parents visiting. Instead she makes sure to socialise as much as she can with everyone at her dorm. It's hard, being so far away that she misses everything. Her grandparents' funeral, her sister's birthday, but she is adamant that she will do her best and succeed with her studies.
She also puts in her hours for the arts club.
And the spirt core.
It doesn't hurt matters that one of her roommates, Brandon, has the most dreamy eyes and more importantly quite seem to like looking into hers too. It definitely doesn't hurt when he suddenly kisses her. Maybe she really is good at this romance thing, after all.
On the other side of the country, love is more complicated. While Ken acknowledges that he was the one to break up with Elizabeth, he still doesn't take the news of her marrying someone else so soon well.
"I was supposed to find someone new first," he complains to Susan.
Susan would probably be a bit more sympathetic (perhaps) if she didn't have her own issues to deal with. Tony has said nothing more about divorce, he comes and goes more or less as he wants, and Susan is too scared to mess anything up, and to ashamed of what is going on, to even admit it to Ken. So she listens to him, hopes Tony won't show up while he's there, and then spends most of the rest of her time off alone in her apartment, listening over and over to this obscure song she found at the local record shop by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. called "Saving All My Love for You". It's not music she'd normally listen to, or even care for, but since coming across it by chance at the record store, she cannot get rid of the feeling that it's written entirely for her.
During her days, she's out and about, working and climbing in her career. Locally they're making great headway, and she's been working hard at turning a place where people mostly dumped their broken stuff into a thriving community garden. For days, weeks, she's been cleaning up trash and building playgrounds and planters. Builders have been working on the small house to turn it from public restroom to a little café. She's proud of her work, and she feels strong and independent when she's working.
Once the building phase is over, the entire community helps with the planting.
But then when she comes home, she's just aimlessly waiting for Tony to come over, and for her to feel truly and utterly alive. She finds herself addicted to his smiles, to the kind words, to the looks he gives her of utter adoration, when he tells her that she's the only one for him, that only she understands him.
And those time makes up for the times when he doesn't feel good. When he comes over in a testy mood, and takes it out on her. And those are the moments where she doesn't dare ask, or push, because she knows that will be enough to tick him off, leave him shouting at her or storming out.
Usually she can turn him around, by not getting upset, by backing down and ensuring that she understand that this situation is stressful for him. She's happy her empathic nature is teaching her what to do to make him relax.
The worst part, however, is waking up alone, to find that he has snuck out into the night to return to his family leaving her behind once more. She knows she should stop it, or tell him to make up his mind and choose once and for all, but everything she thinks of trying she finds herself frozen in terror that he won't choose her. And so she stays silent one more time, and loses a little bit more of herself in the process.
As Steven's birthday rolls around, Susan is feeling so ashamed she barely wants to go home. How will she look her mother in the eye without telling her everything right then and there? But of course she cannot stay at home. Her brother is becoming a young adult, and she - along with everyone else in the family save for Cathy - are expected to be there.
As usual, her mother has spared no effort on the food and cake. As they enjoy dinner, Thomas reflects on the extraordinarily good genes that Betty has. Her mother looks as though she has barely aged a day in the more than twenty years they've been married.
Not everyone can fit inside, so a fair few eat their dinner in the garden, where Michael and Barbara are happy to talk about environmental issues with Susan and she can focus on just not saying too much about anything else. The resent flooding in the Bay Area gives them plenty to talk about that does not include Susan's messed up love life. It makes the conversation easier, even if Cindy can't always keep up with the conversation.
When it's time for the cake all of them gather inside to sing and throw confetti.
As he blows his candles and ages up, his mother feels a pang of pride and grief at the same time. Her baby, all grown up, ready to leave the nest as he too find his way to college. She realises that with this, her life aspiration, to be the best parent she can be, is fullfilled.
What should she do with herself now?
No one else at the birthday party notices that she stays a bit quiet for the rest of the night. Susan is mostly happy that her mother doesn't have her usual eagle eye for how her children are feeling.
Thomas makes another effort in persuading Anna to move in with them. "We worry about you," he says. "If something happens you are so far off. What if you fall? You're closing on 90!"
Anna first says no again, but the next day something happens to change her mind:
For Anna, Cora was a nearly life long friend, and her death hits her hard. It also hits home that she is the only one in her generation left in the family. Maybe Thomas is right? Maybe she needs to be closer to her family. Packing up her home she moves in with Thomas and Betty, taking the time to curate which of her many pictures can fit onto the wall of Susan's old room.
Another member of the family that is hit hard by Cora's passing is Barbara. She is also the beneficiary of her will and the one to arrange her funeral. She goes to visit her nephew in Del Sol Valley, knowing that other than Anna he is the one who will miss Cora most.
Together they plan the funeral, trying to persuade the other members of the family to come. Only a few agree to. On the day in question, only Anna, Thomas, Barbara, Abby and Carl shows up. It's a small and quiet affair, in stark contrast to other recent funerals when the small church has been packed with people. Barbara is at least happy that no one is arguing against burying Cora next to the woman she spent a life time loving. The epigraph engraved is "May you meet again." She, and those who matter, knows what that means.
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