Chapter 1; Beginnings and Ends

I bought a small house near a swamp with a pond in the backyard, perfect for me.  Mom and Dad were sad to see me go, but they told me about a million times before I left how proud of their kids they were.  It made me happy that I had made them proud.  That's what I had always strived for as a kid. 

Entering a life of your own is quite nerve wracking, yet exciting, all at the same time.  You have no idea what's going to happen, and you won't have your parents around all the time to help you when you need it.  You just have to trust your instincts.

As soon as I entered my new home, I fell in love with it instantly.  The colors of the interior were very warm and bright.  It felt like a warm summer's day inside of my house.  I felt protected inside of it's walls, as if they were a strong castle barrier blocking out the outside world.  It was the best sensation I had ever felt before.

Another great thing about living on my own was how peaceful it was.  Living in a house with four other sims was very loud and chaotic.  Here it was calm and quiet.  I wonder if Blake felt the same way when he moved out.

Mom and dad had let me take the treadmill when I moved out and I made no hesitation to put it to good use.  The one thing I wanted more than anything in life was to have a perfect mind and a perfect body.  I wanted to prove that looking gorgeous and being brilliant could coexist and put all of the stereotypes to rest.

My mom had wanted to continue keeping in touch with me, and she let me tag along to one of the parties one of her friends had thrown.  To my surprise, when I was walking into the party one of the celebrites that was there walked right up to me and began flirting.  Why would a celebrity even talk to a nobody like me?  I was starstruck being in his presence.

Of course being the hopeless romantic I was I flirted back.  Who knows, maybe he could be 'the one'. 

I had a fantastic time at the party and I couldn't thank my mom enough for getting me in.
     "Thank you so much mom, I love you," I hugged her tightly.
     "Your welcome sweetheart," she replied, hugging me back.
Little did I know that this was the last hug I'd ever share with her.

At about 4:30 in the morning I had recieved a phone call from dad.
     "Miranda?" he said.
     "Yeah dad I'm here," I replied, a little annoyed that he called this early.
     "I have terrible news, your mother has passed away," he gave the news with a hoarse voice.
My heart dropped through the floor, and I was overwhelmed with grief.  I found myself speechless, unable to respond to my father.
     "Miranda?"
     "A-are you okay?" I stammered with a knot forming in my throat.
     "I'm okay, Miranda I'm gonna let you get some sleep now, I know this a lot to take in.  I just want you to know that she had a great life and she had lived her dream.  She had no regrets and she knew this time was near.  You kids were our greatest gift and she loved you more than anything," he said.
     "I love you dad."
     "I love you too," and then he hung up.

My mommy was gone?  But I didn't even get to say goodbye.

I had no success going back to sleep that night.  I just lay awake and stared into the darkness lost in thought. 

I was surprised by the ring of the doorbell really early that morning.  Blake had come to visit to see how I was doing.  As soon as I saw him I ran up and immediately pulled him close for a long hug.
     "We're going to the park today sis," he said.
A visit to the park would be the perfect distraction, it was just what I needed.
     "Okay," I agreed.

We spent the whole day at the park and had a lot of fun.  The park really did turn out to be the perfect distraction.  I was able to keep my mind off of things for the most part.

     "Do you think that she hated me?" Blake asked "I mean I gave her quite a bit of trouble as a kid." Blake said. 
That was probably the stupidest thing I had ever heard come from his mouth.

     "Of course she didn't hate you Blake!" I almost shouted at him.  "Don't be stupid, she loved you so much.  She loved all of us more than anything."

     "I know, but I didn't mean to give her such a hard time.  I just wanted to have fun," he said.
I could see the regret and sorrow in his eyes.
     "I'm sure she understood Blake."
     "Well yeah I guess you're right," he agreed, his expression lighting up.  "Well I got to go to work now, I'll talk to you later I promise."

After Blake had left the sadness had begun to strike again.  I felt the tears begin to burn in my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away.  I had to stay strong, after all mom wouldn't have wanted me to be moping around and crying.

Blake had snuck me a call during the beginning of his shift.  He had told me that even though Mom's end had come, this was still my beginning, and she would have wanted me to cherish every second of it.  Those words made me feel ten times better.  Mom had given me the greatest brother, and best friend ever.