~ Sunday, 1st day of summer ~
Isidro is seen flirting with Shavon Paulsen.
Vince gracefully ages into an elder.
Isidro begins dating Shavon Paulsen.
Christen passed away. Dina, Berjes & Adam mourn the loss of their mother.
Ahmad and Angelique are having relationship issues.
Elbert eases from YA into adulthood.
Lucia enters the world of YA.
Aja gracefully ages into an elder.
Ian transitions into a toddler.
After a night of tossing and turning, Van knows what he needs to do. He ties the belt on his robe, squares his shoulders and silently gives himself a pep talk on confidence as he makes his way to the room where Malinda has chosen to stay.
** knock knock **
“Malinda, are you awake? I think it’s time we had a talk.”
They awkwardly sit next to each other, neither sure of how to start the conversation that needs to happen. That must happen.
“Malinda, ** sigh**, I guess there is no easy way to ask. You don’t seem to want to spend time with our kids or me for that matter. I feel like you’d rather focus on your career instead of spending any time or energy on us. Is this true?”
“Van, you’ve got to understand, my career in the military is very important to me. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do, ever since I was a little girl! There’s been talk of building a permanent space station to further explore the simverse and I plan to be in line when they put together their list of names.”
“Okay, you have a dream. I get that. But you also have a family and responsibilities here, I’m sure we could …”
“No. We can’t. YOU wanted a family, not me. My getting pregnant was an accident and if I could have done something to prevent or stop it, I would ha…”, Malinda stops upon seeing the look on Van’s face as she realizes what was just said.
“Van, I didn’t mean … I spoke out in frustration … I …”
“Enough! It’s obvious we want different things. I want a family to come home to and you want the freedom to move about. We’re making each other miserable and sooner or later, our kids will notice and think that it’s all their fault. It isn’t and I won’t let them go through that. I think we both need to accept that this simply isn’t working out. Divorce seems like our only option at this point.”
“Fine! I’ll pack my things and go but you need to remember that it was YOU who called an end to our family, not me.”
Later …
As Van helps Malinda carry her suitcases to the waiting taxi, both couldn’t help feeling sad and full of regrets. Regrets for what was said and what has been left unsaid.
Later over lunch, Van lets his mom know what’s going on.
“I feel like we’ve been tossed in the trash, but maybe I’m the one doing the tossing by not coming up with a compromise of some sort.”
Summer is quick to let him know that sometimes things don’t work out and no matter how much you want it to or try to make things work, the end result will still be the same. “Maybe in time the two of you can heal from the hurt and be able to be friendly in your dealings with one another so that your kids won’t feel awkward in having relationships with both of you.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Van smiles.
“Now the first thing we need to deal with is getting those two toilet trained.”
Previous: Things Must Change
Next: Extra Hands
Have I Got A Story for YOU! 
That is harsh but understandable. There didn’t seem to be another solution for them and we clearly saw her their relationship was only getting worse as the time went by. I’m sorry for Van because at first he really seemed like he wanted to hold it all together despite the circumstances.
Sad, but true. If it was up to me none of this would have happened and Malinda would be nicer than I portrayed her. My fingers are crossed that I won’t roll another divorce scenario for future Snyder generations!
Poor Van got the short end of the stick because of the random rolls for relationship status, but I think things will get better for him. Malinda too. Sometimes a pairing isn’t the right one and it’s best to let a bad one end and move along .
I think Van and the kids will be better off now. Plus Malinda can now focus on what she finds important. Some people just aren’t ready for family.
Good points all around!
I think Malinda is career oriented, but she is still sad that the arrangement didn’t work out. One thing about the random legacy is that it lets you reconnect (if you desire) half-way through the teen years of the youngest child. That always offers an interesting story twist.
True. I recall reading that things could be changed somewhat as soon as the youngest reach mid-teen, but Van is destined to meet a second person and add onto his family so I don’t think he & Malinda will be patching up things that way again … but you never know.