“Our Life in Sunset Valley” – narrated by Helen W.

My family...



June 1994:
We can feel our little one inside my tummy is growing, moving, breathing, and kicking. Alex leans over his head to my tummy and is listening to his heartbeats.


We cannot wait until our little one comes to this world and sees his daddy and mommy. Mon fils, je l'espère, vous êtes né en bonne santé (My child, I hope you will be born healthy)





Dear Alex, I wish you would always be so affectionate like this.


August 1996:
Valentin, age 2, got his first toy and is wondering about the usefulness of the stick.

"Honey, it's not for chewing."

Oh my, I hope his teeth will grow fine after this.

It wasn't long until he finally knows its usefulness. Oh, my little baby, you're so cute. 


July 2000:

It's been six years for me living in Sunset Valley. Valentin is six and Rose is four years old. We might have been  worried about Rose, but we believe she will grow up to become a fine and lovely girl someday.

 

Mon Mari has taught Rose to walk. Awww… That's so cute and nice of you, Alex!

She has learned step-by-step all the things she can learn: walking, talking, and using a potty by herself.

We still own Valentin's toys when he was a toddler, so it was unnecessary to buy her more toys.

But she has a new friend with her. I begged Alex to buy it.  The seller said that the adorable bunny was a free bonus in Valentine's Day since we have bought so many stuffs in there.

She loves biting it - a lot- until one of the bunny's eyes gone. She's smart and has big curiosity about almost everything.

 

Valentin loves to play with her - playing with blocks and building a medieval castle. He always shows what he's trying to build to us. I'm glad that the two managed to get along so well.

September 2002: Valentin is eight and Rosaline is six years old.

Oh my, they grow up so fast. It was extremely exhausting raising them when they were still babies. Alex and I often got sleep deprivation because of their crying in the middle of the night every four hours or so. Sometimes, it's  hard to make them eat, especially Rose. I had to take her out to the park or playground to persuade her to eat. Still, no matter what, both of us enjoyed those times.  I would love to do it all over again, of course not in a near time.

My Valentin turns out to be a very curious boy. Same as Rose, he wants to learn almost about anything. Just the other day, he took the brush and started to paint. He's trying to imitate my style when I did my painting.

He also loves to spend his time with his father - fishing and enjoying the sunset at the beach in front of our house. 

Those two are the most important men in my life. Alex is a perfect husband for me.
  

Except for the other day when someone left Mac and cheese on the stove and almost burned the kitchen. Luckily, the children were in school, and we have put a fire alarm on the wall. The fire department came quickly to extinguish the fire. We lost the stove, but we earned money insurance for it.

I think I know who's responsible for the incident. My hubby is clever in so many areas, but kitchen is an exception. He promised me that he would make the new one fireproof.

 

My other guy, Valentin, could easily make new friends at school. He met one of Alvi's boys, Miraj Alvi, and they both  became best friends. He also befriended with Mortimer Goth and Malcolm Landgraab.

Alex and I is trying to teach him some basic principles about life. One of those basic principles is that: we should be grateful for what we have and not be envy of what other people have. Money is important, but it's not the main thing in life. We thought it was necessary considering his friends' social status (Mortimer and Malcolm).

But the Goth's child, Mortimer, often behaved rude in our house. His parents should have taught him more.

Valentin wasn't behaving good  for couple of weeks also. I fear that it was from his friend's influences. He came so late one day. He told me that he fallen asleep in Miraj's house.  I wondered if my baby boy  was so tired with his homework and after school activities or ....was it  because he was too much playing with his friends there?

 He  also got a detention at school.

He was afraid to tell me about it and ran to his father to find back up.

Of course, Alex lectured him. He must have known that education is very important to his father.

Worried of Valentin's education, Alex helped him with his homework. Alex told me about this later at night.

I know it would be a tough time during his age, and he's just a little kid. We must do everything we could to support him.

One night, Valentin knocked on our door. He told us that he was still awake because of the noises in his room. He saw his plate flying around and a red shadow was lying on Eve's bed.

I eventually let him  sleep with me and Alex. The second night, I accompanied him until he fell to sleep. Luckily, those things have yet to happen again.

But, he wasn't the only one experiencing it.

The men were playing chess so they didn't know about the flying gnome. I was as usual doing my paintings. I turned my head around, trying to ignore it and telling myself that it was only my hallucination. Then, I  heard my name being mentioned by Alex. Honey, what were you talking about, dear?

Rosaline, my girl, is like an angel. She donated money to a foundation: Pool without ladder foundation if I'm not mistaken.

She always helps around the house without being asked,

and she's nice. Valentin and Rosaline love spending time together, riding the school bus or playing in the park. Alex and I finally have spare times to be alone. Alex was feeling  tired from work, so I gave him a  massage on his stiff shoulder. We have been busy with our work, household duties, and mostly with the kids that we didn't have much time for ourselves.

I still remember the time when he proposed to me. He said not to look, but I already knew what he was up to.

It was an unforgettable moment.


The memory brought the passion back, and we find ourselves in a blissful moment, but "Oh no! Valentin is here!"
 We forgot to lock our door because we thought that the children would be out playing with their friends. Valentin covers his eyes,  getting embarrassed. I hope he didn't see what we were doing under the blanket.
 

We decide to talk about this matter to him, but good job Alex, you let this kind of matter for me to handle alone.

I try to explain about it to my son, of course in properly and still remembering his age stage. "Valentin, about what happened --" I lose my words. I never thought that it would be so hard for me to explain it. I remember in some magazines that if your children caught you, some of them might think that you were fighting with your husband, so here I goes..."Valentin-- your father and I-- we weren't fighting. What we did was as a sign of our affection and our love that can only be done in a relationship like me and your father have." 

Phew, that was hard.

He stares at me.

"Do you want to have another baby?"

What..? 

I'm completely shocked! I've never guessed that he would know this kind of thing so far. Thanks to television and those magazines! I don't know what to answer, so I just say that yes we did. A little lie is harmless.

He hugs me and I just hope that he didn't see much. Oh, my...


One problem solved,  but then... look at what my husband experiments did to himself! Mon Mari is a mad scientist. He turns  everything into objects with special power and then put them inside the basement.

Still, I love him with all his craziness and madness. He built a special room for us in the basement -- a soundproof one. I must admit that he is such a genius sometimes.

We like the basement so much that we spend most of our time there. It is more likely to become a family room and kitchen area than as a laboratory.

Though, in the process of making the lab, an accident happened.

The kids love that "lab" too. It reminds them of the Matrix movie. Valentin told me  that somehow he felt "more attractive" in there. Look at what your experiment did to our child, Alex?

Even so, no matter how much they love the basement, they still love spending their time playing outside in the park with their friends.

I hope they will grow up to become a good man and  lovely woman.


October 2002

There was an explosion in the basement. We are okay. It happened when we were outside, but the house cannot be occupied again until- at least- 25 years later because of its radioactive effect. For now, we are going to live in France in my old house. I only hope that the small house will be comfortable enough for the four of us to live in. France, here I am... back again. Je suis de retour

Theme Song: "Sunrise" by Norah Jones