Gaia’s Roots

A DITFT Challenge

By Ani-Mei

It’s autumn, harvest time for my crops. Also it has been a whole four years since my oldest kids left home, one will be coming back while the others will go on to lead their own lives. My heir is Avoine, my

oldest daughter. I only hope that she will carry on caring for my crops after I pass on.

If I have one regret, it’s that I was unable to be there for my other children as often as I would have liked to be, like I was for my children with Naenae. I know it was wrong, and I only hope that it will not come

back to haunt me. I can’t help it if I fell in love with two beautiful women, they were both so different and yet so compelling in their own ways. Ani-Mei bore me three more children, two daughters and a son.

Chapter 2:

Joys and Regrets

My oldest child with Ani-Mei, Winter, my middle daughter Blossom and my youngest Kyle. These three are my

beautiful children. I tried to be there when they were born, but sadly I was unable to see Kyle born like I had with his sisters. Naenae never knew I was cheating on her, if my children with

Naenae ever meet their half-siblings I can only pray they get along.

This is really the only picture I have of Ash, the child I had. He was my youngest, until I fell in love with Ani-Mei. It was after Ash’s birth that my affair with her started, I love all my kids, all nine of them. If you count

the three that Naenae had as a Plantsim, I have nine kids. I found out a while ago what her condition and mine was called, it’s strange really but not something I wish to remain as for the rest of my life. As soon as we

found ourselves a cure, Naenae and I took it.

Will and Cypress as kids.

I remember this as if it were yesterday, Will and Cypress were finally old enough to join Kale and Avoine at school. I remember how excited they were to go to school; that cure I told you about, I bought enough for all of us who were afflicted with Plantsimism. I thought it only fair that Magnolia, Will, and Cypress get to experience the joys of being a

child just as if they were born the way their siblings were.

Ash’s first birthday.

My son, he looked so much like his mother but he had my skin colour. I would have liked to add the baby and childhood pictures of my other kids

in this album, but I worry that it might upset Naenae to see them. Of course, as I write this down, she knows about my affair. She was

understandably hurt and for a time she moved out of the house, Naenae did come back it was not like we got divorced over it. Though if she had wanted one, I most certainly would have given it to her. But we stayed

together for the sake of our children and we will work on it.

This has to be my favourite picture of Ash, we were posing for a family photo and the boy thought it would be funny to make faces at the

camera instead of smiling pretty like Naenae wanted him to. Ash is by far the most playful of my kids, the boy cannot sit still for a moment.

At least his brother and sister posed nicely for the photo. I am so proud of

how they grew up into wonderful young people. It makes a father feel as if he’s done his job right if his kids

grow up well.

I only heard about the night when Ash went down to the park with Cypress, but apparently my sons already knew about their half siblings from school. When Kyle got sick at school, they called me to come see him. His mother was at work and I was listed as the secondary contact

number. Imagine their surprise when they saw me leaving the principal’s office with him. It wasn’t how I wanted them to learn about

their siblings, I really wanted to sit the kids all down and tell them about their half siblings, but the harvest came in and I forgot.

Thankfully, they were not overly upset with me about it.

I soon had a house full of teenagers and there was a lot of talk about college. I never went myself and I wanted them to at least have a chance at it. These are the best pictures of Magnolia and her brothers that I found to add to this journal. I love these

shots the best, it shows how uniquely pretty they are.

With six teenagers in the house, it was clearly too small for everyone. So I pooled the money I had been saving and purchased a new lot and

built a much bigger house on it. I even had room to build that greenhouse I had been wanting for a while. It was a good way to

prevent the bugs from destroying the crops and to make sure we still had fresh vegetables throughout the winter. Naenae and I had no

desire to become Plantsims again so this was a good way to make sure of that.

I also bought some fruit-bearing trees as well. Apples, lemons and oranges all home grown and pesticide free. Is there any better way to

have the best tasting fruit in all of Pleasantview? My garden is truly my pride and joy, I pray that it sustains all future generations of my family.

Precious moments like this are exactly what a father wants to remember. My son Ash and his First Kiss, Amy Jones. Of course once he knew I had a camera on him he gave me an earful about invading his

personal space and privacy. Teenagers huh?

Even Magnolia found her First Kiss with another paper carrier, Derek. I’m glad that my old well can give my kids so much happiness.

Cypress found himself a nice girl too. I forget her name but she seemed to make him happy. I’m glad.

Naenae surprised me one day as I was writing in this journal, she said that if I wanted to include some pictures of my other children in this that I could ask Ani-Mei to send me some. When I asked what brought about

her change of heart, she simply replied:

“Because I know you’re a good man and want to leave a lasting legacy for our children.”

I am truly grateful that Naenae let me add these precious photos of Winter, Blossom, and Kyle when they were young. I would hate to have

them think that I was never in any pictures with them as children.

All my children are grown and heading to college as of this entry, Avoine was kind enough to send me this picture of them at their

kitchen table in their college house. They all pooled their scholarship money to rent this house and they did very well making it feel like

home.

The next pages in this journal will be handed over to my daughter Avoine for her to fill with all her hopes and dreams of the future and to

leave a legacy for her children to look back upon. It’s kind of sad to know that I won’t be writing much in here about my grandchildren, but at the same time I know my daughter will take very good care of this

journal of mine.

Regards for the last time,Chris.