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 Deanna by: Dr.  Paco Jones
   copyright 2012
   Chapter 32 - Epilog and A House Full
   The new house was finished so that we could move in just before Tara and
Marie's little girls were born, so they came into the log house never
having been in the old place.
   Not that Heather or Rebecca would remember much of anything about the
old place.  Since it was the size it was, we leased it out to a troubled
children group.  There were plenty rooms, bathrooms and space to let kids
be kids.  The people they should have been able to trust the most had
abused mostt of them, their parents.
   It was a cause that is near and dear to my heart.  A very belligerent,
angry, violent, drunken mother raised me, so my "view" of women in the
world was "perverted" by the one roll model I was supposed to be able to
trust.
   It took a lot of therapy to overcome much of that and I still don't give
a rat's ass about my mother.  She still abuses my father and I wish he'd
just kick her ass and toss her out on the street where she belongs, but
after 65 years, it ain't gonna happen.
   Joining the Navy and becoming a SEAL was my escape.  It was also
training that saved my life.  I also have ADHD and the training gave me a
focus.  I had something I could focus my anger on.  Every time one of the
instructors would get in my face for something, usually petty, I'd just say
to myself, "Fuck you asshole.  You're not going to make me quit!" It's ok
though it was their job.
   I didn't quit.
   Now back to the new house.
   It was everything we'd dreamed of.  Big bedrooms, big bathrooms, the
gym, the pool with the roll away roof, the numerous Jacuzzi's scattered
around.  I'd had one installed for every one of the "assigned rooms", plus
there was a really large group tub.  Wolfgang Puck would have had multiple
orgasms over the kitchen.  It was a dream come true.
   The movers came in one day and packed everything, and loaded it on a
HUGE truck.  The next day it was in Willits being unloaded and unpacked by
the same crew.  It couldn't have gone more smoothly.
   I gave Bob a call and let him know we were now in the neighborhood and
invited him and the girls over for a BBQ.  I'd told him previously about
Tara's mentioning that if she could get him alone.
   He had laughed telling me he didn't need to add anything to his list,
but if the opportunity presented itself, who knows.  Heather and Michelle
were very accommodating, but he reminded me that his girls were all bi and
three out of the four of them would entertain my girls, so it would be an
interesting neighborhood.
   Dee and Janell formed an instant friendship that ended up in one of the
bedrooms or another, but with all the other commotion going on, nobody
really missed them.
   I was jealous.  I still had my eye on Janell!
   All in all it was a really great day.  The girls brought over some
acoustic instruments and after the food had had a chance to settle, we went
out to the "amphitheater" and built a nice bonfire and everyone gathered
around while the girls played, everyone sang.  There were a few times when
we all just stopped and listened to the girls.  It's no wonder they were so
popular, and absolutely fun to be around.  Not a hair of pretension amongst
any of them.
   When the fire burned down, and eyelids began to droop we bid the
neighbors good evening, and went to clean up the house.
   One of the really nice things that happened that evening is when Bob and
the girls got here, they noticed that both Tara and Marie were "ready do
drop" as they called it, and Bob offered to fly them down to the hospital
when the time came.  That way we'd only have to drive a half a mile instead
of thirty or forty.  He said he'd had to do that a few times with his
girls.
   We had our bags ready because they were both due any time.  When I
talked to Bob about it, we decided that if one went into labor he'd fly
them both so that if the other suddenly decided it was time, she'd already
be there instead of trying to get him back up to fly the other one.
   As it happened, it wasn't more than about a week later, I gave Bob a
call about 2am to let him know that Tara was feeling the first twinges and
since she was experienced I'd go with her assessment.  He just said, pack
'em up and bring 'em over.  One of the girls will meet you at the house and
direct you to the helipad.
   When we arrived, a sleepy Michelle hopped in next to Tara and pointed
the way.  Shit.  I'd have never found it without a guide!  Michelle said
not to worry about the vehicle; she and Heather would drive it down later
in the morning so we had transportation at the hospital.  She said she knew
right where it was.
   With a chuckle she told them, "I've had two down there, so believe me I
know how to find the hospital!"
   We all laughed, and thanked her profusely while Bob helped the two
pregnant ladies to their seats and made sure they were belted in and the
doors latched properly.  He shouted for me to get in the left seat up
front, and he jumped into the right.  We were airborne in a few minutes and
he was calling ahead to let the hospital know we had two pregnant on board,
one in labor, the other so close we didn't want to leave her without
transportation.  He let them know when he'd be arriving so they'd have the
appropriate personnel to meet us at the pad.  They all knew Bob.
   The entire ordeal went very uneventfully with the exception that about
noon that day Tara gave birth to Amanda Jayne, and just to keep things
exciting Marie went into labor about an hour after Amanda was born and
about 11:15pm Kylie Sue was born, so we had two little girls with different
mom's born the same day.
   That would make for some interesting explanations at some point in time.
I phoned up to the house to let Dee and Lisa know what was happening, and
early the next morning Michelle and Heather showed up with "the beast", as
we called it.  It was a large SUV, which we actually needed considering the
size of our traveling brood these days.
   Bob's girls stayed for about an hour before telling me that my girls
needed some rest, and that they'd probably go home tomorrow.  I nodded and
thanked them for bringing the vehicle down for us.
   They let me know that it was no problem.  They were now going to go off
and do some shopping as long as they were in town.  Then just before they
departed, each came to me, pulled my face to theirs, and gave me a very
nice kiss.  Heather's was a bit more shall I say, suggestive?  I let them
know I appreciated THAT also!
   They giggled and out the door they went leaving me with my two new
mamas.
   Tara could have gone home today, but they figured that since they were
together they'd discharge them together, so we only had to make one trip
back up the hill.
   An interesting trip it would be!
   ----
   Whew!  Two new babies, and two 18 month old kids, well Heather was 19
months, but we won't quibble over 25 days.  Of course the entire contingent
of moms doted over all the children.  It was like they all had four mothers
and one daddy.  That doesn't include the kids and moms from next door that
were a constant presence.  Their youngsters were fascinated by our babies.
   Ya think they may be confused when they're growing up.  Dee said she'd
already talked to Janell about how to deal with that issue since they were
all in the same boat, and theirs were old enough to ask questions now.
   Dee knew that she was on the clock.  We'd decided again that if there
were going to be another round, it would be when the two new babies were at
least 6 months old.  She didn't argue about it at all totally understanding
the logic.  She wanted at least one and maybe two more.
   Even with all the others around, Dee and I were still madly in love and
totally devoted to each other.  Yes we messed with everyone else in our
house, and sometimes the neighbors house, but that didn't take away from
our devotion to each other.  It did redefine the word a little, but it was
nothing any of us were going to worry about.
   We all had our things to do around the place.  We had decided to raise
our own livestock so we knew it would be healthy, grass fed and drug free.
   We also organically grew pretty much all of our produce as well.  Over
on the side closest to Bob's place I built two monster greenhouses so that
we could grow some veggies, like tomatos, all year round.  Yeah, yeah, I
know.  Tomatos are a fruit!  So sue me!
   We offered Bob and the girls greenhouse space, and since they didn't
have time for livestock we agreed to raise enough for them as well.  It
wasn't that big a deal, and an extra couple head a year, and an extra few
hundred chickens.  Bob and I together had about 400 acres of "pasture" land
amongst the redwood trees, so we planted different grasses for the
livestock to graze on.  All organic!
   We tried pigs for our own pork, but after 2 years we all decided -
disgusting!  We'll purchase our pork from one of the organic farms on the
other side of the valley.  Essentially what they did was take over our pig
brood and raised our pork for us.  We provided them with some of their food
because we had no use for it and it was better fed to the pigs than turned
into the ground for fertilizer; we had plenty of that already.  It all
worked out very well.  We even traded a steer and a bunch of fresh chicken
for seven or eight dressed hogs.
   Dee got her barnyard chickens.  They were slightly different than those
at Pollo de Oro, but they grazed on different grasses and bugs here.  They
were still incredibly delicious and everyone got a taste for the "real
deal".
   I continued to pursue learning to fly helicopters and taking Bob's
advice, limited my excursions around the local area.  Dee and I did take a
lot of vacations that we wouldn't have taken otherwise, and the others took
care of both of Dee's girls while we were gone when we didn't take them
with us.  The girls didn't notice much except that "mom" wasn't there but
"aunties", as they were referred to, were always there.
   There were also times when all of us were down in Cabo for seven or
eight months at a stretch.  Since we were home schooling, the children were
all becoming bi-lingual at an early age.
   Bob, Bill, and the girls and their brood would come for a visit on
occasion and stay for a few months.  I think if we could find similar
property that we could own in Mexico we'd all move out of California.
   I suppose we could have arranged a good-sized plot under the Fideicomiso
but any plot we wanted was priced totally out of reality because of
developers scarfing up that kind of property for resorts.  It's ok, there
are times of the year, July, August, September, and October that it is
really no fun to be down there because of the tropical climate, but beyond
that, it was lovely most of the time.
   Oh.  About two years after Amanda and Kylie joined the flock, Dee had
her final foray into motherhood, and gave birth to Samantha Hailey.  So we
had five girls, well actually nine if you included their mothers.  Dee was
totally enamored with her baby sister, Amanda.  All of my women were
finished with having children.  Now it was time to have the fun of raising
them.
   Dee had a pretty bad time when she was carrying Samantha and the doctors
told her it would probably be best if she didn't have another baby.  It
could kill her and/or the baby, and nobody would even entertain that
option. She reluctantly had her tubes tied when Sam was born so there would
be no accidents, and after she had that done, Tara and Marie also decided
to do the same.  Within the group only Lisa remained "child bearing",
though she never entertained having another child.  Rebecca was the joy of
her life.
   Rebecca and Kylie were like sisters with each other.  They were all like
sisters, but the two of them, seemed to hang with Lisa and Marie more than
the others.  Nobody had any issue with that.  The kids all played together,
we home schooled them together with Bob's kids and they all got used to the
idea that I was daddy.  None of the moms ever made a big issue out of it
and when it came time for the girls to understand, they were all given the
"lecture" collectively, a few times.
   Being in a very rural area there weren't a lot of kids around for the
girls to play with so we had arrangements with the neighbors to get
together twice a week for the "social" part of education.  Sometimes we'd
load them all in the school bus that we'd purchased to haul them around in
and go to museums or ball games or close in events, anything to get them
out of the house and interacting with other people.
   When we were all in Baja, there were an incredible amount of places we
could all trek off to, and we purchased an old school bus down there too.
Usually when we were down for an extended time, a couple of Bob's girls
along with Maryanne and Bill would pop down with a gaggle of the kids and
we'd make sure everyone got a good schooling.
   It seemed like the rotation worked rather well because every so often
one of "my" girls would go up with some of our kids and, well you get the
picture.
   It seemed to work very well.  Usually I would drive the bus, and there
would be an assortment of moms along to keep the peace.  Rarely was
conflict any problem, and if there was an issue, it was always resolved
then and there.  No festering or making something grow out of proportion.
   Every so often Bob and the girls would do a private performance for all
the assembled masses, and twice a week they gave music lessons to any of
the kids that wanted them.  To their surprise most of the kids wanted to
learn some instrument, a lot of guitars, a few drums, a couple violins and
the like.  Poor Maryanne was the busiest because she played all the
different instruments, but she enjoyed watching the children excel.
   The rotation in and out of Cabo made it interesting, but nobody missed
any lessons or practice.  I practically ran a private taxi service between
the airport and our condo.  Don't let the taxi union know.
   That rotation kept Leslie, Randy and Steve very busy as well because
they made the trip about three or four times a week shuttling kids and
adults in and out.  We got to know the immigration people in Cabo on a
first name basis.
   Maryanne would be thrilled when one of the kids "got it" and babble
incessantly when she got home.  Some days, if it were one of ours that had
learned the "lesson", she'd be over bending our ears.
   Ya know what?  Nobody minded at all!
   Janell had one boy and two girls banging away on the drums, and one of
the girls, her daughter, had a natural talent.  At thirteen she was playing
in their studios with other musicians making records.
   There were a few of their kids that would join with other bands to do
studio work and six of them had formed a band that practiced all the time.
Usually the six of them came and went as a group during our forays into
Mexico.
   Bob was considering doing one short tour with them around the area just
for fun, but the girls weren't so sure that was a good idea because once
the children got that taste of adrenalin it would be difficult to hold them
back.  They did studio work instead and even cut an album of their own
all-original music.
   Oh, "The Girls Playground Music Inc." ended up with a Mexican studio. 
Bob and Bill couldn't help it.  Things were going so well, especially with
the kids, they wanted the kids to have facilities when they were in Cabo to
do recordings.  There was only one person that came to the area that was
NOT welcome to use the facilities at any price.
   Another thing happened more or less naturally and that is kids being
kids ours interacted with many of the locals and all of our speaking good
Spanish, taught the locals good English.  They also worked with them on
music and gained a healthy love of Mexican music.
   Under Maryanne's tutelage a mixed bunch of the kids formed a Mariachi
band and did beach work.  They didn't need the money, so it was all
funneled to the local kids, but it was a kick.  We had our own built in
Mariachi's for our own parties.
   In a couple years they had quite an orchestra/band going and twice a
month we'd all get together at "The Ranch" as it was called, in our
amphitheater, or on the beach at Cabo for a performance.  There was never
any pressure to perform, but it seems like the girls next door had a way to
give them the confidence to ham it up and play for the "adults".  Sometimes
it even turned out to be a "free" show for the tourists.
   Usually two or three of the "pros" would start them off and after a few
tunes, they would fade away and the kids would take over doing the show
alone.  It usually lasted an hour or two and ended with a group sing along.
   Dee and I continued loving each other.  We are as in love today as we
have ever been.  Marie and Lisa are, as always, still together.  They
actually turned out to be the best teachers of any of us and it turned out
that when we were in town, many of the neighbors kids would join ours a
couple times a week over and above our excursions.
   Heather from next door also turned into a very good teacher and would
join Lisa and Marie in many sessions.  In overall testing all of the kids
doing our home schooling regimen scored in the 98th percentile for their
age groups every time there was a test.  We had to be careful about how we
were grouping things because the "state" would want to turn us into some
kind of "real school" or make us get some kind of license.
   It didn't happen.  Every time the education people came to hassle us,
most of the kids were in Mexico being schooled there.  Not much the state
can do about that other than read the test scores.  I told them on more
than one occasion that perhaps they could learn something from parents
taking education more seriously than the state.  Test scores were always on
my side.
   Tara dated a couple of men but in the end found a girlfriend, Candy, who
moved in with the rest of us and fit into the family very well.  Candy was
also an excellent teacher, and was a native Spanish speaker.
   Tara said there was nothing really wrong with the guys but they just
didn't measure up.  She said that she used me as a litmus test, and all had
failed miserably.  Every so often, Tara will still share my bed and
sometimes even brings Candy with her.
   We all still have a very loving shared relationship, which, even after
all these years, works very well for all of us.  We're all growing older
together and enjoying watching our children mature into well-adjusted
adults.  Life has never lost its luster for any of us.
   But then, we have always had something that the world could use a whole
lot more of!  Undying love for each other and those around us!
   It's really that simple.  Love!
   End
   
  
Chapter 32 - Epilog and A House Full