Epilogue: Life in the Long Run.

Life went on and it was a good life for us and all of those close to us.

Kay started in the company as a junior engineer. As in almost all technical fields, once you have your degree, you have to start working to really learn your trade. By the time of our first wedding anniversary she was established in her position and happy in her work. The internship had started her along that path. Kay still worked with Troy. She worked on projects and he reviewed them before they moved on to the next step. It was the normal way things worked in the department for junior engineers: a mentor always reviewed a junior's work.

Troy was happy as well. As Kay started in her position as a junior engineer, she learned that Troy had moved up from a full engineer to a senior engineer the January before she started her original internship. The January after she started full time, an opening near the top of the department came about and Troy was made Ben's assistant. Four years after that Ben retired and Troy was made the Engineering Department Manager. Kay still worked for him.

Troy's family had made progress as well. His wife, Alice, having worked as a teacher through the three levels of traditional public schools, had advanced to an assistant principal in the high school their kids attended. Holly, their daughter, was going to graduate and had a partial scholarship that, when it was combined with what the company kicked in for dependent children, pretty much covered her ticket through any in-state school. She hadn't decided on a major yet. Gary had some time before he'd graduate and had to live with his mother as his assistant principal.

A year and a half after Troy's move to assistant manager, Kay was moved up to a full engineer. She was twenty-six at the time, having already earned her master's degree by working through night classes and on-line courses. The positions in the department ran from intern to junior engineer, from there, if you had a master's degree you could advance to a full engineer. The next step, to senior engineer, required a doctorate and that would take a while.

Junior and Reyna worked on their farm and worked hard. It showed. They had planned for a full year of operating expenses as part of the loan because they expected it to be that long until the farm was supporting itself, let alone showing any profit. When they took out their loan, they had banked the expense money so they could draw on it. After about six months things were looking good and they expected the farm to be self-supporting before the end of the year. Everyone, including them, was happily surprised when the books showed a small profit in time for their first wedding anniversary.

They worked on more than just the farm. While Junior and Robert worked on the farms and later Tommy joined them, Janice got with Reyna and together they worked on the farmhouse. Slowly it was redecorated. It's amazing how much you can change the look of a room with new throw pillows to change the look of the existing furniture, a fresh coat of paint on the walls and new draperies at the windows. One of the rooms they redecorated as a nursery because by their first Christmas in the house they knew they'd be having a baby around the end of June.

Over the next several years, they never missed a payment or were late with one. Along the way they worked hard. They had a few stumbles but they were minor and they overcame them. Some equipment broke down and had to be repaired; some equipment wore out and had to be replaced. They maintained a good working relationship with the co-op, especially the finance section. They never knew that Kay and I were the source of the funds they needed and they always paid it back. By the time they had four kids, things were very good for them and they were happy.

After Kay had been with the company for a year as a junior engineer she had a week's vacation and we brought Tommy out for his first visit. He had a great time at Disneyland and sailing with us, but he didn't understand how we could live with all the people so close around us all the time. When we pointed out that he had the same type of crowds in school, his response was that it was only a temporary arrangement, not permanent. When he went home, he thanked us for the good time but said he'd stay in Kansas when he was done with school.

Tommy finished up his degree in animal husbandry and returned to the farm to help Robert, and to a lesser extent, Junior. The three men together made a good working team and both farms benefited from their complementary skills. They worked with other members of the co-op as well and the whole community benefited from mutual support.

We had a hard time getting Kay pregnant our first time. We tried for a full year until she caught. When Kay started her maternity leave she was almost eight months pregnant but continued to do school work at home. It was an opportunity for her to concentrate on the studies for her doctorate. Kay loved what she was doing and with the company picking up the bill, she took whatever courses she could that would help her as an engineer.

We ended up with two children before we said our family was big enough, a boy and a girl. Micah Samuel, named for my father's father and Bridgette Lynn, named for Kay's still-born sister. We talked about having other children but we were happy with two and truthfully, by then I was getting too old to give newborn children the attention they deserved.

Before Micah was born, Kay and I did a lot of thinking and talking. Unless I wanted to put in a lot more work and take on someone to help me, my business wasn't going to grow any further. That was okay with me. Kay was enjoying her work and doing well at the company. She wanted to continue and that was okay with me, too. We worked it out that I would become a stay at home dad to take care of our newborn and any siblings that might come along later. Micah was eight pounds six ounces when he was born and he was our Christmas present to ourselves.

I talked with William and Mary to find out if they were interested in taking over my clients. They were and after some negotiations, they agreed to buy not only my client list but my company name as well. I gave them a good deal. Thanks to the internet they would be able to take over from me without leaving Florida. I contacted each of my clients to let them know I was retiring from the business but that I was leaving them in good hands. William and Mary took good care of my clients and they did well with both their business and mine. I was happy for them.

During the transfer, I spoke with Garrett in Colorado. He had become comfortable in his position and the corporate office was very satisfied with the work he did. His family was doing well, too. Samantha was indeed dating and found she appreciated that her parents wanted to meet any boy who was interested in dating her. It was a measure she used to help determine how serious they were. Andrew was dating as well and always made a point of meeting a girl's family before taking her out on an individual date. It raised his standing with the girls and their parents.