(Chapter 7) Saying Goodbye - Part One

The whole gang was together for Melissa's next birthday. Even Stephanie and Marisol took a break from campus life to celebrate the next phase in their little sister's life.

Melissa made a secret wish and blew out the candles.

Just like her older sisters, she was gorgeous. Taking after her mom and sister Stephanie definitely didn't hurt her chances. And of course there was the fact that I was a little biased, being their dad and all.

Suzanne immediately got on the phone and called the Headmaster of Isla Segundo Private School. It was time for Melissa and the twins to have a chance to attend the prestigious school their older siblings had attended.

BJ Ryan came over the next evening promptly at 5pm. The whole house was a buzz of nervous energy. I, however, had no doubt the rest of my brood would get admitted with no problems.

Of course, "father knows best." Mr. Ryan congratulated us and said he was looking forward to seeing Melissa, Maddox and Sebastian first thing tomorrow morning.

Shortly after the children's acceptance to Isla Segundo Private School, Suzanne and I celebrated our Golden Anniversary. What a joy we had made it this far. We had successfully (in our minds) raised 5 healthy and wonderful kids, through it all loving and supporting each other.

We were still very much in love, possibly more now than ever. Was life this good for everyone? I could only wish and pray that it would turn this fulfilling for my offspring, seeing as how I most likely wouldn't be around to see it for myself.

The boys were getting older and Suzanne and I spent as much time with them as possible.

Suzanne had found a new hobby - gardening. She loved being outside with nature and watching something that she had a hand in growing. And we sure enjoyed the "fruits" of her labor!

Melissa was definitely like any other teen. Interested in boys far too early as far as I was concerned. She had met George McCarthy down at the general store and they had developed quite a fondness for each other.

They spent a lot of time together and eventually decided to only see each other. George was a regular fixture around the Stratton household. Well, my baby girl finally got her first kiss. I guess there could be worse things...

Meanwhile back at SSU, Stephanie had decided to pledge Tri-Var Sorority.

Heather Huffington, Brittany Upsnott and Tiffany Sampson all came to her dorm. They quickly took a liking to her and before long and accepted her as one of their "sisters."

Stephanie had also met on campus, Keith Zhang. The two had hung out a lot together and had several meaningful conversations.

They begun to develop more than friendship for each other. Stephanie was very attracted to Keith and the feeling seemed to be mutual.

Back at home time as always was flying by. It had seemed like it was yesterday when Melissa became a teen, and here we were with the twins.

The last of our crew were becoming teenagers. I couldn't help but be a little sad that I would probably never see any of my children get married or have kids of their own. The only consolation was that Suzanne and I had raised them to be loving, caring and honorable human beings. My Maddox, yep still looked like his old man!

Sebastian, a little eccentric but a good kid. He was the only one that was a mixture of both Suzanne and I, together. What would the future hold for them and my daughters? Only time would tell and that was somthing I just didn't have much left of.