My beloved but estranged wife was dead. I can’t even voice my thoughts. My XO looks at me and says “Rachel is alright. She wasn’t in the car.”...“My daughter is alive,” I say not sure if I was asking for confirmation or just parroting what they told me.“Emergency leave is approved effective as soon as the next COD is ready to launch, around 1900.” The skipper says. “Take your time. When you’re ready, go pack. Your XO can run the Squadron for you.”I nod my head trying to figure out what is going. It was a Friday, some weeks before I graduated. I had gotten 18 some weeks before. That day we had to do a very complicated experiment and I had never been that good for this kind of subjects, so it was certainly a whole challenge for me. We had to complete some exercises on the notebook and leaving wasn’t allowed until we had it all finished. Little by little, I saw how the laboratory was emptier while minutes passed. It was supposed that I could leave at 2:00 PM, but then I noticed it was. Patti and Garnet talked regularly I knew and they looked out for each other. They had become quite close over the years and shared several common interests which was good because it kept them both occupied and active in things they loved doing. Now as I sat in the driver’s seat and drove Garnet’s Subaru Forester down Fifth Avenue a flood of memories began to descend on me from the old days of living with both Garnet and Patti under the same roof. Those were the times alright, never a dull. " Soon John was there before the clinic even opened. Monica assisted him but not much help was needed. Then the medical students all went home for the summer vacation. John was the only donor left and was instructed to come in every single day. He was in heaven. The sperm bank was part of a lesbian midwifery clinic so matching donors to husbands was not required. The girls who worked in the clinic got a big kick out of looking at the newborns and trying to guess which donor had been used. This.