Home Away From Home - 54. Epilogue

In all of the goods times, there are sad times. Nick did pass on and Billy was having a hard time. I bought Nick’s old cafe, hired a manager and put Billy in the kitchen. He was happy being there, for him this was home. I bought the building, so he had an apartment above the cafe, it was officially called, Nick’s Cafe. Billy really liked that.

My mom and dad stayed at the our place in Guam. They were happy there and Dad had his garden, Mom fussed in the kitchen and the boys treated them like they were their grandparents. I made arrangements for Mom to visit her relatives in Italy. The plane always came back with a guest, plus loads of food.

Roger and Bob are still our pilots for PUPPY II, Greg and Alex are still the pilots for PUPPY I, with all of the traveling, I took over Dad’s plane and Tom and Jerry are still the pilots for that plane. We are going to rechristen it PUPPY III. Dan and Helen are still stewards, as well as the steward from Dad’s plane, Jose.

Rita retired and left Chet in charge of her resorts. She said when she passed on, he’d get them. Tony retired, if you call being in my office every day and doing some traveling with me, as being retired. I actually don’t think I could have done the job without Tony’s help.

Chet has kept his offices in Hawaii and now has two children, the oldest is a girl and they call her Apikalia, which means 'my father’s delight', and from what I am told he dotes on her. They call her Lia for short. He has a son which they named Chet junior. And from what Rita tells me, he’s like his father, good looking and looking forward to working at the resort.

Puppy opened a children’s clinic. We set up a fund, so no child would be turned away because the parent wasn’t able to pay. Puppy was happy, he had four nurses and two doctors working in the clinic. He was happy, which meant, I was happy as well.

Once a year we all descended on the house in Guam. Talk about old home week, I don’t think any of us slept very much. We even got to see Mario.

My life was beyond anything I could have ever had expected. I was rich, not because of the money, but because of the people I met and loved. They all left me with something, I’ll never forget. The heart is big, it gets bigger with the love of people who pass through your life. Home away from Home, when I return to Guam, I have a new meaning for those words.