Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Chapter 28

   The year Bethany turned 10 and the boys turned 8 the whole family went
on a 6 week holiday.  I made arrangements to rent a large motorhome in
Seattle and after travelling to Seattle from our island, we headed out to
sightsee and visit the various families.  Ever since our initial meeting
with Jennifer's parents' families, we'd kept in touch, sending them
pictures of the kids and generally keeping them abreast of what was
happening with the kids.

   Over the next 6 weeks we managed to hit all kinds of attractions from
pure amusement places such as Disneyland to natural wonders such as the
Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns to historical places such as The Alamo.
As we meandered around, we made sure to visit with both of Jennifer's
families where we were warmly welcomed by all.  A visit to my ex-wife and
her family gave us a chance to meet a daughter-in-law (Ken's wife) who we'd
only seen pictures of as well as the grandchildren.

   *****

   While we'd really enjoyed our trip, we were oh so glad to be home.  When
we stopped at the store to get our mail we discovered a wedding invitation
from Martin.  We'd met his lady friend when we were there but as we
discovered in the letter Martin had included with the invitation, he hadn't
yet proposed.  As he'd planned, he'd propose to the lady the night after
we'd left them.  We were so happy for Martin.

   There was a sad note though, when we got back to our island.  Faye had
woken up one morning to Ralph crying loudly and when she went out to see
what the problem was, she discovered that Maggie had died peacefully in her
sleep.  While this was a sad time for us, it wasn't a big surprise.  We
didn't know exactly how old Maggie was, but we knew she was getting old and
had mostly been just lying around, snoozing.  The kids were quite upset but
after we explained what happened and that as far as we knew, Maggie hadn't
suffered, they accepted the situation.

   *****

   Life continued to be good for us.  The kids thrived in school and had
developed some close friends on the main island.  One weekend, Bethany
stayed on the main island with a friend of hers and the boys each brought
on friend out to stay with us.  The next weekend, the opposite happened. 
Once Bethany entered high school, we arranged for her to stay with the
`aunties' and go to school full time in town.  We made the same
arrangements with Ben and his wife once the boys entered high school.

   *****

   My how time flies.  It seemed like yesterday that we were bringing
Bethany home to our island for the first time and now she's attending
college.  She's taking her nursing degree and wants to become a
nurse-practitioner.  Eventually she wants set up a practice on the main
island.  She has the support of all of the medical folks who come here
periodically for clinics for this plan.

   The boys graduated earlier this year and have gone off on a yearlong
back-packing trip around the world.  For the second year Bethany is tops in
her class and her adviser told her that there had been some enquiries about
her from a clinic.  She told us that when she goes back to college in
September she'll look into this.  She's off on a summer job and we likely
won't see her until just before she goes back to college.

   *****

   When I woke up this morning, I quietly got up and, after gazing at my
wonderful wife, got my coffee and went out on the porch.  Ralph had died a
few years ago and since we'd become so accustomed to having animals around,
we adopted a dog and a cat.  Maxie the dog and Spooky the cat came and
joined me.

   As I sat there looking out over the water and enjoying the quiet, I
started to reminisce about the last 20 plus years.  I thought about the
storm that washed the boat with Jennifer on board up on the rocks.  I
thought about our life together, chuckling about the early days in my one
room cabin and all the things that happened there.  I thought about our
trip to mend the rift in Jennifer's families' relations with her.  I
thought about our wedding and the births of our 3 kids.  I marvelled at the
stroke of fate that brought Jennifer into my life.

   "What are you thinking about?" I turned to see Jennifer standing there
looking at me.  "I was just thinking about the storm and thinking about all
the wonderful things that the storm brought when it brought me you." I
replied.  Oh yes, It's amazing the wonderful things that wash up on the
beach after a storm!

   End