Walk this way

Round 16: June 2025

Kurt Robinson is 69, Tina is 37, Frieda is 17, Tim is 4 and Michael is 1.

(Zach is 21 and Sara is 16.)

Narrated by Frieda.

Christian broke up with me last week. He's leaving to study abroad and he felt like there's no point in dragging out our relationship because he doesn't know when and if he's coming back. I know breaking up was the sensible thing to do but it still hurt. I never really expected us to stay together forever but he was my first boyfriend and this is my first break-up so it's going to take some time to get over it.

I'm trying not to dwell on my bad feelings though and try to focus on school work and hang out with my friends instead. School's out but I try to study a bit every now and then and also keep in mind that the try-outs for the university football team are in a couple of months and I need to be on my best form by then. It's crazy to think that in six months I'll be moving to Brixton and studying something. I haven't really decided what I want to do when I grow up so I haven't even thought about what I want to study.

Sara's got it all figured out even though she still has a year and a half before she goes to college. Emily and Aaron both know what they want to do. I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't have their whole future planned ahead already. All I know is that right now I want to play football.

Tina says it's ok not to know yet. She says that people change and even if I picked one career path now it doesn't necessarily mean that I want to follow the same path ten years from now.

"People change. I'm not the same I was when I was 18 - all I wanted was to hang out with my friends and be popular. Call it mid-life crisis or whatever but my priorities have changed. I'm not saying I'm a better person now but I'm definitely different than I was before."

It's so great to have someone to talk to. Dad still talks to me like I'm a child because to him I'll always be a little girl I guess. Tina's different. She'll never take mom's place - no one ever could - but I'm really happy to have her in my life.

I won't lie, I was a bit jealous when Tim was born because I felt like dad and I had never been really close and now he had this new kid that got to spend more time with him than I ever had. By the time that Mikey was born I didn't feel that way anymore. I know dad regrets being distant with me but I feel like we've been able to bond more now that we spend time together playing with Tim and Mikey.

Jack told me to enjoy my last summer as a high school student so I'm not working at the farm anymore. I'm not complaining about all the free time I have especially since the weather has been really nice. Tim has been begging me to take him swimming so we took a bus to Exmoor and went to the Exmoor Aqua Park with Sara.

There's a life guard at the water park so I didn't have to worry when Tim went to swim in the pool. Sara and I decided to soak in the sun for a while before going to take a swim in the pool. Sara was talking about her boyfriend and for a brief moment I thought about Christian. I do miss him sometimes but at the same time I think I'm starting to get over the break-up.

My thoughts were interrupted when someone called out to Sara. It was Zach and when he said "hi" to me I felt like a nervous 13-year-old girl having a hopeless crush on an older boy again. It's not like I haven't seen him around sometimes but I haven't actually talked to him in years. I could feel myself blushing just thinking about how I used to follow him around like a puppy. He didn't seem to notice though or maybe he did but he's so used to girls swooning over him all the time that it's easy for him to ignore.

Sara knows all the details about my embarrassing crush on Zach and after he had gone she said that the age difference isn't that bad now. I just don't see it happening though. From what I've heard he's not even considering settling down with just one girl and I don't think I'd want to share.

Dad's trying to convince to live at home when I start college.

"It's not that long ride on the bus, you know. Or we could get you a car if you want" he says.

I've put my foot down though. I really want to get the whole college experience, not just classes but living in a dorm and meeting lots of new people. I'm not afraid to voice my own opinions to dad and nowadays he usually just gets this fond look on his face and says that I'm just like mom.

Dad's not the only one who's trying to convince me to stay here. Tim's been following me around ever since he learnt that I would leave for school in a few months. I'm gonna miss the boys but I'll be visiting all the time so we'll still see each other really often.

Sometimes I sit in the grass in our backyard and think that good things are going to happen in my life and I just can't help but smile.


Notes:

• Title reference: Walk this way by MØ.
• Tina rolled the ROS for the mid-life crisis. It was kind of difficult to include it in this update because I really wanted to write from Frieda's POV. I didn't do any major changes, just switched her primary and secondary aspirations so she's now Family/Popularity and her new LTW is Graduate 3 Children from College.
• I really don't know what Frieda will be studying so I guess it's time for the Choosing careers "game" by Carla and Apple Valley. She'll most likely have an undeclared major for her freshman year to give her time to figure out what she wants to do.
• There's no big drama behind Frieda and Christian's break-up. I just don't want to continue romances with teenage townies because I won't be aging them to adults in any case anyway.