Chapter Thirty One…Now in 2016

Both Arizona 's and Calliope's Points of View With Bailey, Arizona and I beginning to celebrate our first year of firsts as a family with our first Halloween, our first Thanksgiving, our first Christmas, Bailey's first birthday and ending with Arizona's and mine's first anniversary. Then as the next few years just fly by with the occasional sicknesses between the three of us, and on one occasion where all three of us were sick at the same time, along with the occasional injuries that children and adults alike might sustain while raising our baby girl. Then came the month of September in 2016 when George , Arizona and I had to place our daughter in kindergarten that just about did all three of us in. With the help of our three very Catholic parents and our two very Lutheran parents, George , Arizona and I chose St. John's Catholic school for our daughter to attend. With George, Arizona, Grandma O'Malley and I take our daughter to her first day of kindergarten in Mama O'Malley's mini van, the five of us are standing outside the van when Bailey turns to all of us women to see that we all are crying. Bailey stands in front of her mama, her grandma and me and says "I want daddy to walk me to the front door of the school. Because the three of you won't stop crying, I want to say my good byes to all of you here. I love you and I will miss you today but I will see all of you later after school". Bailey gives each of us a hug and we tell her that we love her too. Then she takes her father's hand and they walk towards the front door of the school while the three of us cry even harder much to our little mija's dismay.

George returns to the mini van where the three of us are residing to say that he needs to talk to us. He asks us to come over to the bench nearby so he can address each of us together. The three of us take a seat on the park bench when George proceeds to tell us about the conversation he had with our daughter as he walked her to her home room inside the school. George begins to say "Bailey and I had a talk about all of us and how she would like to see each of us get our fair share of Bailey time as she calls it". With George stopping for a minute to laugh at his daughter's reference, he begins again "Bailey feels that she is not getting enough time with her Grandma Louise lately and she would like to propose a solution. I swear to God ladies these are her words". Now not only George laughs but the three of us begin to laugh as we are picturing Bailey saying these exact words in our heads and George continues. "Bailey knows that she stays at least seventy five percent of the time with her mamas and if her mamas take her to school then me or Grandma Louise could pick her up and keep her until either I or my mother or either of you ladies pick her up and take her home. She asked me if I would talk to the three of you to see if this plan could work. I know with our schedules, things can get pretty hairy at times but if my mama agrees, we could make this work ladies. So just think it over because Bailey says she would like to talk to her mamas about it more over dinner tonight. I am not kidding, these are her exact words". With the four of us having one last laugh about what our daughter discussed with her father this morning, we all get back into the van so that George can drive us home. When George and his mother drop Arizona and I off at our house, I tell them that I will call them tonight to tell them of our decision after we finish our talk with Bailey. We say our goodbyes to each other as George and his mother drive off.

"So what do you think, baby"? I ask my wife as we enter our home as she says "I don't know Calliope, I like having her nearby in the daycare at the hospital so we can go and see her whenever we want". I then walk over to my wife and wrap my arms around her and I say to her "I know baby, I know, I like having her near us too but maybe she is right. She just wants to spend more time with her grandma because you know as well as I do that if our parents lived here in Seattle , we would have no problem with her seeing either one of them whenever she wanted". Arizona turns in my arms to say "Yea, I know you are right, so let's see what Little Bee has to say tonight at dinner". Arizona kisses me as I smile when I hear Arizona say "Little Bee" again. She has not called Bailey that for quite some time and it is good to hear her call her that again. When "Little Bee" arrives home from school after George and his mother bring her home, I ask them both if they would like to stay for dinner so we may discuss this matter as a family and they both say yes.

After Bailey and I set the table and Calliope says that dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes, I say to Bailey "Hey Little Bee, why don't you go show your daddy and Grandma Louise your newly decorated bedroom"? Bailey takes her father's and her grandmother's hands and says "Great idea mama…come on daddy…come on grandma, come see my new bedroom. Mami and mama got me a new big girl bed" With the three of them going upstairs, I walk up behind my wife and place my arms around her body as she says "Arizona, you are so bad". Calliope turns to face me as I say "What" as I take her lips onto mine and then my wife says "You know what, my dear" and then I say "Can I help it if I want to kiss my incredibly hot wife and not in front of her former very Catholic ex-mother-in-law" as I continue to kiss my wife.

With everyone taking our seats for dinner as we all hold hands and Louise says grace. I say to our daughter "So Little Bee, we hear that you had a talk with your father this morning before school and you would like to see some changes made to your scheduling routine. Would you care to discuss these changes now"? A smile fills the air as Bailey wipes the tomato sauce from the lasagna off her mouth with her napkin and she says to me "Yes mama, I would like to tell you why I would like to spend more time with Grandma Louise. I know that you, mami and daddy want me to stay at the daycare center inside the hospital but I do not like it there anymore. Most of my friends that were there when I was little are all gone now and I want to spend time with Grandma. I just want to be with someone who wants to be with me and not with a whole bunch of new strangers like at the daycare. Please, if it is alright with grandma, can we work my schedule out so that I may spend time with her instead of going to the daycare"?

With tears beginning to well up in all of our eyes, my wife takes our daughter's hand and says "Well, baby girl the reason your daddy, your mama and I like you being at the daycare center is so that we can come by and see you whenever we can while we are at work". Then we all notice that Calliope has just sucked the life out of the room as the look on our daughter's face goes from happy to sad in an instant. Calliope quickly changes her mind by saying to Bailey "But Little Bee, if it is alright with your daddy and Grandma Louise then we will see about changing your scheduling routine so you can spend more time with them". Bailey, Calliope and I look down our dining room table at George and his mother, Louise jumps up form the table to run to her granddaughter even before George has time to respond as she encircling Bailey with her arms while saying to her "Of course my beautiful granddaughter, we would love to pick you up from school and spend time with you…wouldn't we Georgie"? Bailey returns the hug to her grandmother and say "Oh thank you grandma and thank you daddy" as George smiles and hugs his daughter saying to her "Anything for you, my baby girl, anything for you". With that decision, we all go back to enjoying our meal. George, Calliope and I begin to discuss a case the three of us are working on when I notice that Bailey takes her dinner plate and her glass of milk and goes to sit by her grandmother as they too begin to discuss what they both will be doing with their newly found upcoming time together. I sit back and look at our family and how much each of us have grown over the years, I have no idea what the future holds for each of us, but in just a few short weeks our lives will change again…a change that none of us ever saw coming.

Bailey Georgia Robbins-Torres Point of View

My full name is Bailey Georgia O'Malley Robbins-Torres. I am the eldest daughter of Arizona Michelle Robbins-Torres and Calliope Iphigenia Robbins-Torres and the only daughter of George Kevin O'Malley. I was born on the last day of March in the year of 2011. I was named after my father's mentor Dr. Miranda Bailey. My father felt that since he was at the delivery of Miranda Bailey's birth of her son Tuck and Dr. Bailey gave her son my father's name of George, as Tuck's middle name that it would be an honor to Dr. Bailey if my father gave his first born child the name of Bailey after Dr. Miranda Bailey.

I have three brothers, Timothy Daniel, Theodore Carlos, and my baby brother Alexander Michael and I have a beautiful baby sister by the name of Addison Barbara. I have three grandmothers, Louise Margaret O'Malley, Barbara Michelle Robbins and Lucia Inez Torres. I have three grandfathers, Daniel Timothy Robbins and Carlos Miguel Torres but my grandfather Howard Kevin David O'Malley died two years before I was born. I have five uncles, Gerald David O'Malley and Ronald Colin O'Malley are my father's brothers, Timothy Daniel Robbins is my mama Arizona's brother, he died in Iraq in 2010, Alexander Michael Karev, who my baby brother is named after, has been by my side since the day I was born and Marcus Allan Sloan, who died three months before I was born, he was my mami Calliope's best friend. I have three aunts who are my mamas and my daddy's friends but they have also been there for all of the Robbins-Torres children since day one. They're names are Miranda Bailey-Warren, who I am named after, Addison Montgomery, who my sister Addie is named after and Theodora Altman, who my brother Theodore is named after.

I have known four valuable concepts in my life and they are the love of family, the love of this great country, the love of God and receiving a great education. Like my mama, Arizona , I too was raised to be a good man in a storm. For as long as I can remember, no matter how our family dynamic changed throughout the years, I have always known who I am and how I came to be. It was not the most romantic way to be conceived but from the day I was born, I felt the love from every single member of my family. You see, my mamas and my daddy do not know that I know how I came to be here. As I found out when I was fifteen and my mother Calliope had just given birth to my baby brother Alexander, while I was waiting in the family waiting room, I overheard some nurses at the hospital saying the different ways the Robbins-Torres children all came into this world. When I heard them say that I was conceived as a result of a drunken night of sex between my mother Calliope and my father George and then two months later my mother was pregnant with me. I just smile to myself and to the thought that no matter how I came into this world, these nurses that were gossiping about the Robbins-Torres children, would never know the love that my family has given to me and to my siblings. So it does not matter to me how I can to be here…it only matters how I have been…and how I am loved.

For the love of this great country I have known that my grandfather Lt. Col. Daniel T. Robbins has served in our nation's military as a member of the United States Marine Corp as his father had done before him serving on the U.S.S. Arizona during the time that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 where he lost his life after saving nineteen men before he drowned. As his son Timothy has done after him serving in Iraq but he too losing his life on October 1, 2009, eighty five days before the birth of his only son and today as his grandson Timothy is now serving as a Lt. Col in the Marine Corp but unlike the men in his family before him, my wonderful, beautiful and gracious older brother, Timothy Daniel Robbins-Torres II is serving his country during peace time.

For the love of God I have been blessed with these teachings by my wonderful grandmothers. Louise O'Malley and Lucia Torres have taught me their very Catholic way of thinking as my grandmother Barbara Robbins has taught me her very liberal Lutheran way of thinking. As each of these women have taught me the teaching of both religions, I have chosen for myself a church here in Miami that teaches the Catholic ways of religion but with the liberal Lutheran views as well. So I have the advantage of both religions and how they affect my life as I grow older. Someday if I have children, I would expect them to choose their religion that best suits their way of life just as I have chosen mine.

For the love of a great education from the time I started school I was told that all of the Robbins-Torres children are privileged. My mama used to tease my mami by saying that "since your mami education was a privileged one, then so will our children's education be privileged too". From the first day of school at St. John's until I finished my high school years at Bishop Blanchet High School here in Seattle and then moved to Miami so that I could attend my grandparent's alma mater at the University of Miami , my education was and still is a privileged education. The curious thing is about a privileged education, as with any education, you get out of it what you put into it. I have just recently double majored my education with a Bachelor's degree in Applied Sciences in Business Administration that I received in May of 2036 and a Bachelor's degree in Business Law because in June of 2036, I passed to Florida State Bar Exam. This just goes to show that even though my education may have been privileged, what I did with my education was my decision. So, on January 1, 2038, I will become the CEO and First Co-Chairperson of Torres Industries as my grandparent's Carlos and Lucia Torres begins the process of handing over the reins of their company to their grandchildren.

In closing I would just like to say one more thing about my valued concept of love. I have had boyfriends all throughout high school and college but I have yet to find anyone to share the rest of my life with. Maybe I am looking for that special someone who can make my life complete. When I look back on my twenty five years of my life, I can see that my mamas have found that special love between two people that will last a lifetime. I guess you can say that they have proven that love really does exist for those who are patient and wise enough to find love.

To my mama, Arizona and to my mami, Calliope, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for always being there for me and my brothers and sister. Your love for each other has been the foundation that we all build our hopes and dreams on so that we, too, may find our one true love someday. Whether the five of your children choose a man or a woman to love, we know that we will have your undying love and support throughout our lifetime. With the love and devotion you both have shown not only the five of us but with everyone in our family circle, we will all pass these same qualities onto the next generation of Robbins-Torres children that come along. I love you both more than I could ever say with words. So as we all say at the end of every prayer "May peace be with you".

Both Arizona 's and Calliope's Points of View (Present Day) As my mother sends me Bailey's first portion of the book via e-mail, I call Calliope into the library so we both may read Bailey's part at the same time. My wife and I are lying on the sofa, wrapped in each other's arms when I click on the e-mail from my mother. As we read our daughter's excerpt, I reach over onto the coffee table to grab the box of Kleenex tissues because both my wife and I begin to cry at the exact same moment. After we read Bailey's portion and finish blowing our noses, Calliope says "I never knew she knew about her father and I and how she was conceived". Calliope continues to cry in my arms as I say "Well, it seems that she did not care how she arrived into this world and into our lives but that she only cared how she was loved by everyone and she is loved by everyone still to this day, my love". With that being said Calliope begins to cry even harder in my arms. When Calliope's cries begin to subside and she lays her head on my chest as she lies on top of me, I say to my wife "Our Little Bee is all grown up, my dear". Then Calliope says to me "Yes she is Arizona , we did alright by her…didn't we"? I kiss my wife in the top of her head and say to her "Yes baby, we did just fine by her…we did just fine…I love you Calliope".