Rai - April 2023

Ella and Madeleine's last update/Gunnar's last update/Ella and Gunnar's next update/Madeleinen and Cole's next update

The Rai Family

Gunnar is 62, Ella is 60 and Madeleine is 25

(Cole Brems is 32, Elisa de Leeuw and Françoise Roque are 28, Eleanora Roque is 18)

Narrated by Madeleine

It was kind of a shock when mom and  Gunnar came back from their trip and announced they got married. It was even more of an adjustment getting used to having a Gunnar in the house.

Mom seems really happy so who am I to say something about it. I kind of like the fact that my 2 bast friends are now practically my sisters.

There really are some perks in having a guy in the house though. I was never a huge fan of clogging the toilet so I'm more than happy to pass on that job to Gunnar.

My 2 best friends are now my sisters. Elisa's mom is living with my dad, and Fran's dad is married to my mom. We all needed some time to adjust to the idea, but we do like it.

There really hasn't changed much in our relationship, we still go out like we used to, altough with Elisa and Fran both having kids and Fran expecting a 3rd one, those outings aren't as frequent anymore, and most of the time we stick to coffee cafe's instead of dancings.

Most of the time I go out with Cole anyway. He's always in for some pool or anything fun anyway, so we kind of think alike when it comes to that.

It's mostly just Cole and I, but I don't mind, I don't think other people would like hanging out with us all the time anyway, we can get kind of clingy.

Lately Cole has got it in his head that he needs to lose weight. I have to admit he's getting kind of chubby, so to encourage him I decided to go with him, after all it can't hurt for my job to get a little bit fitter.

 I ussually don't stick it out that long, and leave Cole to is while I get something to drink or to eat.

Mom hasn't been interested in opening Rai Arts recently, but I really like the shop, so I took it upon me to open it on the days I don't have to work at the station. 

I was never a hero when it came to handling the cash register, but I think I'm getting there. I really miss having mom there with me, because when the shop is open it's always pretty busy.

I think I will have to getting used to mom not being around to help out with the shop though. One day they invited Ellie and Fran over to come by and have a chat, they said they had important news that involved all of us.

We had no idea what was going on, so it was a huge surprise when they announced that they were going to take a trip around the world. They have been thinking about doing this since they came back from the Ardens, and finally made the decision and they were leaving next week.

After the initial shock, we all were really excited for them. We wished them a safe trip, and insisted they would write or call often.

This of course left me alone this big house, which I wasn't really too happy about. I like having people around, so I talked to Cole about it.

I had this whole speech ready about living together, and that it would be nice, and that we've been together for quite a long them and that it would be a natural step for us, but there was no need for it. The moment I started about living together, he said he would love to.

It's nice living with Cole and having him around all the time.

On our first night living together, he surprised me by getting down on one knee and asked me if I wanted to marry him.

Of course I said yes!

Notes:

• Ella rolled the ROS 'You knew you were never the type to live and die in the same place. Maybe your family goes with you, and maybe they don't' Just like their shotgun-wedding I thought it kind of fitted them. So Ella and Gunnar are taking a trip around the world. I don't know if and when they will return, so we'll see :)
• I didn't like the idea of Maddie all alone in that house, so I thought it would be nice if Cole moved in.
• Maddie and Cole have been together for 4 years now, and she had had the want to get engaged since last round. I was waiting for Cole to roll it, but eventually decided to go ahead with it. I haven't set a date for their wedding yet, but I do think Ella and Gunnar will be in town for it :)