2. There's no place like home
Note: I've decided to set the story behind the story apart by writing it in italics. That way, if you would prefer to read only the story itself, you can skip over the italicized text and not miss a thing. Conversely, if you'd rather not read the story, you can read ONLY the parts in italics. I hope you'll read both, but if you prefer one over the other, now you can easily pick the parts you like best.
Finding @SweetieWright_84's save files gave Z and me a perfect opportunity to do something we had been thinking about. We'll often browse the Catalog, looking for houses we like. We'll download a 4-bedroom, §200,000 mansion and add it to our game as an "aspirational house," one our household can move into if they ever get rich. Then we'll pick out a cute starter house that's worth one-tenth as much and have our Sim begin their adult life in this more humble abode.
SW's file is filled with awesome houses. They are both attractive and functional, without being cluttered and spawning countless routing issues. We don't have a full Sims 4 collection; we have all the expansion packs and a total of 24 game packs, stuff packs, and kits. Even though we have items missing from most of SW's builds, they still look really good and work very well. We knew we wanted to have Cameron live in one of them. Z deserves much of the credit for creating the storyline that allowed Cam to begin his adult life in a dream house.
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Nobody could remember when there wasn't a Ross living in Brindleton Bay. The community had not been settled by the Ross family, but it often seemed that way.
Mason Ross fell in love with Martha Daniel the moment he saw her. "It was a summer evening," he recalled. "There was a social at the Library. Martha was visiting her cousins, and they talked her into coming along with them that night."
Mason's eyes sparkled and he smiled. "Martha was wearing a white dress. She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen..."
The couple sat together at a table overlooking the water, sipping punch and talking. Neither Mason nor Martha ever dated anyone else.
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When I fall in love...it will be forever...
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Mason and Martha Ross. We added them to Dan's family, using the Genetics tool in CAS.
Mason became a beloved physician, caring for the families of Brindleton Bay for decades. Martha ran her husband's office for a while, but she concentrated most on raising their only son. He was named Daniel, according to a Ross family custom. The Rosses honored the women who married into the family by giving the first child its mother's maiden name.
"We're usually pretty lucky with that," Mason pointed out with a smile. "My mother's name worked well for a boy's name. So did Dan's, and Cameron's. But my grandmother's maiden name was Fightmaster. It took Dad a while to realize what a cool name Fightmaster Ross really is."
Dan grew up, married, and raised his family in Willow Creek. Meanwhile, Mason and Martha were about to make a dream come true.
Martha took the story from there. "We really didn't have a honeymoon, unless two nights in a ramshackle cabin at Granite Falls counts." She laughed, her bright green eyes twinkling. "Dan made it up to me for our twentieth anniversary, though. We spent a week in Sulani. It was simply glorious. That's when we started dreaming of living there one day. But I had to talk this one into retiring first." Martha playfully shoved her husband's shoulder and laughed.
The breezes of Sulani finally worked their magic on Dr. Ross. He and Martha purchased a lovely home called Journey's End. Best of all, they could afford their new home without selling their current one.
"We love that house," Martha said. "It's a lovely, traditional Brindleton Bay house, with clapboards and a bit of a Dutch colonial look to it. You can see the covered bridge from one side of the house. The others give you views of the water and the town. It had a pool, and we put in an outdoor dining area. It made me sad to think of selling it. I'm so glad we didn't have to."
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Martha did have to leave her piano behind when she and Mason moved to Sulani. She is a brilliant pianist with a gorgeous voice, and she loved to fill the house with music. "I wish we could have taken the piano with us," she sighed. "There simply was no way to do it."
Mason and Martha first offered Dan and his family the opportunity to move into their home. "We thought about it," said Courtenay. "We thought seriously about it. But the kids are so happy in Willow Creek. Their friends are here. And, honestly, Dan and I don't want to leave our lives here, either.
"So, when we passed on it, the next person in line was Cameron."
Everyone had always assumed Cameron would enroll in the University of Britechester at his earliest opportunity. Dan was a Vice-Chancellor there, and Cam knew the UBrite campus like the back of his hand. Cameron's grades would almost certainly have earned him the chance to enter a Distinguished degree program. There was only one hitch.
Cameron didn't know exactly what he wanted to do with his life.
"That's not completely true," Cameron said, shaking his head and smiling. "I knew I wanted to be out on my own while I figured it out. I love my family more than anything, but I was ready to get my own place and, well, live my own life."
So, instead of moving directly from the Willow Creek house to a UBrite dormitory, Cameron needed a place to live when he was ready to start life on his own. Mason and Martha solved his problem for him. Cameron moved into the house on Sable Square.
"He can stay there as long as he wants to," Mason said. "I hope he's as happy there as we were. Perhaps he'll raise his family there. Who knows?"
"There's only one catch," Martha pointed out. "He has to learn to play my piano. That is non-negotiable."
