Gen 3: Grace (the involuntary housewife)

Grace was born as the first of a set of twins that were born after their mother, Josephine, had suffered a miscarriage. She named her Grace as a result. Her sister, Hazel, named after the color of her eyes, was her best friend growing up, even if she could not be more different in her personality. While Hazel is her mother's daughter, wanting nothing more than a family and stable marriage (and a husband with a generous income), Grace wants to get to know the world and stand on her own two feet.

As she grew up, life was not always easy on the two girls. Their parents fell on hard times in the years of the depression, moving around, their father barely managing to support them as they moved where the jobs were. For Hazel this is the nightmare, and she more than anything wants a stable life and beautiful things to feel safe. For Grace it means nothing is stable and you might as well live life to the fullest. She's inspired by her aunt Anna, who has always taken care of herself, and contrast her to their mother's suffering as their father lost his job. So the moment she became a young adult, she enrolled in university and went to live in Britechester.

Studies were hard, but student life was fun, and while there she got to reconnect to her eldest brother Thomas. She also met David. Handsome and fun, he was easy to date, and pleasant to kiss. She didn't take the relationship to be too serious, always certain he was cheating on her. But just as she was about to graduate he sprung a proposal on her. Or sort of a proposal, asking her to live with him after he's graduated. Grace was surprised, and uncertain, but she couldn't find any good reason to turn him down. After all, what if she does and she then finds out he was the one that was right for her? She doesn't want to lose him, and so she agrees.

After graduation, she moved back home with her parents, where Hazel's new husband had found her a job as a filing clerk. She wished it was a more well paying job, higher up at a position more suitable for her education, but is told again and again that she won't need to work once she and David are married anyway. But of that Grace was certain, married or not, she intended to make her own money.

Of course, life does not always work out as intended. Shortly after their marriage, Grace was fired as the firm did not want married women to work there. So here she was, a housewife, even though she never really wanted to be. So when David wants to pursue a family she agreed. After all, what else was she supposed to do with her time? Baby Kenneth was born on Christmas Day 1954, and while this life might not have been what Grace dreamed of, she could not help but to fall in love with her baby boy. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Whittaker Saga: the setup

Image
 I  was vastly inspired when reading the decades challenge, and as a history teacher, I could not stop myself from giving it a try. Of course, true to my nature or refusing to do things by the book, the first thing I did was break the rules. How? By creating as my protagonist a single, working woman living on her own! Gasp! Why? Partly because a story popped into my head, but also, partly, to honor the many women who - by choice or necessity - actually worked, and worked hard for their living in the 1890s. We tend to forget them, but the working women were there - from the hard working farmers that we often downgrade by calling wives, as if they weren't an essential part of the economy of the farm, to the working class women working as domestic help or in the factories where they were only payed half of a man's wages.  So with that, I introduce Abigail Spencer, a single, working, middle class woman in 1890s Willow Creek:  As middle class there is only a few jobs avai...
Read more

An interlude: The 1940s, WWII-gameplay and the latest family tree:

Image
As we go into the 1940s, I thought I'd take the time to reflect on what this new decade might mean for gameplay. The 1940s were, naturally, dominated by WWII. In the US this is especially true after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. Things that are reflected in the original rules of the challenge by feeding sims cow plant cake and sending them to live elsewhere. Anyone who read this story through WWI knows that's not how I play. So let's take a look at the facts and figure out what this will mean for this particular story and my gameplay: WWII: going to war (or work) and deaths. In the US 16,1 million men were either drafted (10 million) or volunteered (6 million) in WWII. Yet what did that mean in relation to the population? According to the 1940 census, there were a total of 65 million men in the US, of which 35 million were between the ages of 18-45 (draft-age after the Pearl Harbor attack). So in other words, 16 million men out of a pool of 35 million. Tha...
Read more

1890s: Starting out in a new town

Image
After moving into her small house, getting some chickens and some simple crops to extend her pay, Abigail started her life and work in Willow Creek. She likes her students and quite enjoy her work as a teacher:   Still she is a bit stressed about fulfilling her aspiration, and finding love when it's entirely inappropriate to be the one to initiate flirting is apparently hard! But she tries, and she has met all four eligible bachelors at this time. She met Joseph while taking a stroll in the park. They got along quite well and enjoyed a game of chess together:     They have really hit it off and quite enjoy each other's company, and after Sunday service in church, Joseph even flirted with her for the briefest of moments before becoming friendly with her again.   In general, Abigail is really happy about Sunday services. It's a great place to meet all the people in town, the reverend is nice, and holds good sermons (although the congregation is very bad at l...
Read more