Because of my enthusiasm and successes Great Oaks kept on growing.  Originally the estate served as both the offices of the Holt Adoption Agency and the Holt family mansion.  The Holt family had consisted of Harry and Bertha Holt, six of their biological children, and eight adopted Korean orphans.  For this reason the ten thousand square foot two story house had large common rooms, and lots and lots of bedrooms.  It was ideal for housing spa clients and my own family.  The adjoining Holt Adoption Agency office building was also very large with a multitude of rooms.  It became living space for those helpers and hangers-on we came to refer to as “community members.”  My first husband added even more to the physical plant constructing a large, rustic gym and workshop.

Many “alternative” people visited and then begged to stay on with room and board provided in exchange for their work.  A few of these people made a significant contribution such as cooking, child care, gardening, tending the ever-ravenous wood-fired boiler we used to keep the huge concrete mansion heated, or doing general cleaning.  But the majority of the ‘work exchangers’ did not really understand what work really was, or didn’t have sufficient ethical presence to uphold the principle of fair exchange, which is basically giving something of equal value for getting something of value and, perhaps more importantly, giving in exchange what is needed and asked for.

I also found that community members, once in residence, were very difficult to dislodge.  My healing services were supporting far too much dead wood.  This was basically my own fault, my own poor management.

Still, I learned a great deal from all of this waste.  First of all it is not a genuine service to another human being to give them something for nothing.  If a fair exchange is expected and received, positive ethical behavior is strengthened, allowing the individual to maintain their self-respect.  I also came to realize what an important factor conducting one’s life ethically is in the individual healing process.  Those patients who were out exchange in their relationships with others in one or more areas of their life frequently did not get well until they changed these behaviors.

Toward the end of 1982, after providing a decade of services to a great many clients, many of these in critical condition, I reached to point where I was physically, mentally, and spiritually drained.  I needed a vacation desperately but no one, including my first husband, could run Great Oaks in my absence much less cover the heavy mortgage.  So I decided to sell it.  This decision stunned the community members and shocked the clientele who had become dependent on my services.  I also got a divorce at this time.  In fact I went through quite a dramatic life change in many areas—­true to pattern, a classic mid-life crisis.  All I kept from these years was my two daughters, my life experiences, and far too many books from the enormous Great Oaks library.