That is a touching email. I haven't seen that in my game, although in my 2nd generation, there was a daily email from one of the kids who moved out. Ian & Molly had 3 biological kids, and then adopted Daniel when they were in their late 40s. Since Ian was 2 years older than Molly, I used vitamins, fruit and hand gel on him, figuring she would be safe for awhile. Those things were rarely in the store, so I didn't have enough for them both. My plan backfired, and Molly died at age 60. The three older kids were gone, but Daniel was only 15. My goal then became keeping Ian alive until Daniel was grown and left for college. I was successful. The father & son lived happily together until Daniel left. Although there is no way to prove it in the game, you had to think that maybe Ian was closer to Daniel than to the other 3 because they got through the hard times after Molly's death together and lived alone with each other for 4 "years."

When I opened the game today, there was an email waiting for Ian. Usually the first email of the day was from one of the kids. We have been hearing a lot from the older son lately, so I thought it might be from him, but today's email was from Daniel, who had just left yesterday. It wasn't anything sentimental--in fact, he asked for money! It just made me think once more that he was the child who had the closest bond with his father.

About an hour later, Ian passed away at the age of 68. I now have the tough decision about which kid should inherit the house. It is funny looking at the jobs the kids have. The ones who liked to hang around the kitchen doing dishes and playing cook have kitchen careers. The note that I made about Daniel as a teen says, "Studious computer nerd." He grew up to be a statistician! Did I call that right, or what?!