Rays of sunshine

Summer 3040
Talin Chaplin is 69, Serena Chaplin is 43, Julia and Joanna Chaplin are 8
Household profile
Last update: Spring 3038

It’s been a horrible year.

He’s felt hopeless about it, too, in a way that he can’t remember feeling about anything since he was much younger. Emotions tend to soften with age, mellow out. But there’s nothing mellow about grieving your own son and Talin has mourned with an intensity that still strikes him as frightening.

The girls have had nightmares ever since Lewis died and it’s been on Serena’s plate to comfort them because Talin has, for the first time in his life, not known what the hell to say.

When Cat passed away and left him alone with four kids he had held up, soldiered on and focused solely on surviving the day and not scarring his children for life by breaking down or throwing fits. This year it’s been almost impossible. It’s as if he had excepted to go the rest of his life without any more grief of this kind. He’s much older than his wife, he’s got no elderly parents – in a way he had thought that the next death would be his own. This feels like he’s been tricked by life. As though life has broken their agreement.

The girls, especially Joanna, have been acting out a lot, too.

Talin and Serena have been to several meetings at the girls’ school and seen a few counsellors and it seems the problems may have been solved for now but for a while it had felt like there would be no solution possible.

But time, they say, heals.

Talin still works full time.

He has thought about retiring on and off for a few years but always ended up staying, figuring that he’ll have to go one day anyway, when his services are no longer needed at the firm. But it’s so liberating to work these days. He’s too old to care what others think, too old to want approval and instead he just goes with what he knows would work, presenting drafts that he feels 100% sure about. They’re not always met with a lot of positive feedback but for the first time in his career, he doesn’t care. He doesn’t fight for them, either. He just accepts that his younger colleagues may have different ideas and new preferences but he still knows that his drafts are excellent and that’s all that matters.

It gives him a certain confidence that he feels good about.

Louise is handling everything much better than he had thought, no doubt a lot of it is because she has Brett. Whom she finally brings over, these days. Talin has been aware of them dating but he doesn’t like to pry and he knows Louise has too much integrity to talk about things she doesn’t feel ready to talk about. Her romantic life has always been one of those topics.

But it has changed now with Brett who seems to be a very natural part of her life. Often, Talin knows, that’s the best sign and something to look out for – a person who just sort of slips into the fabric of your life without much effort. Young people can have wild ideas about passion and drama as a foundation for their relationships but those things never last.

The girls love it when Louise comes over and they’ve taken a liking to Brett as well, even if he often beats them at video games.

Louise talks a lot about her music and how she’s finally going to get a shot at performing with a real orchestra, which is something she’s wanted for as long as Talin can remember.

The girls are eager to attend her concerts, too, since they’ll get to wear nice dresses and eat fancy food afterwards. At least that’s what Louise has promised them, in order to get them to come.

He’s very happy that she seems to have found inner peace after the loss of Lewis and that she’s got such a nice guy by her side.

Serena, too, is very fond of Brett and lately she and Louise have been on much better terms, too. It has taken them many years to get there, because Louise never did forgive him for moving on after Cat’s death but he feels fairly certain that she has by now.

With a new baby in the family, Kaidan often brings Adam over these days. He’s still too young to appreciate a little sister so Talin tells his son to get out of the house and leave Jeannie and Olivia alone sometimes.

Talin knows his son well enough to realise that there’s something slightly off but he doesn’t feel it’s his place to ask unless Kaidan wishes to talk about it. It might be nothing. Two children in a short time can be absolutely overwhelming and he knows Jeannie hadn’t been feeling well when Adam was a newborn.

Truth be told, Talin is too fond of Jeannie to really want to know if things aren’t right between them. He thinks they make a great couple and that she’s the best mother his grandchildren could ever have.

Serena adores her, too, and they have really bonded lately. Having only experienced one baby bubble in her life, Serena is keen on compensating for it by doting on other babies, and Olivia is no exception. They’ve given Kaidan and Jeannie everything they had left from when the girls were younger, which had felt like a big step somehow, even though they both agreed on having no more children ages ago.

After a day with Olivia and Jeannie, Serena tells him that she has never once regretted that decision but that she wouldn’t mind more step-grandchildren in the near future.

—–
* One more update to go and then this round is finished! Can’t wait to start the next one.