NotExpected 22

Not What We Expected by Tiffany B. Quinn It was a heavenly break before each of us went home to our summer jobs and preparing to leave home for college the next fall. We did get together frequently that summer as we looked forward to the next big step in our lives. For the first time in six years we would be starting school without the support of the full Posse. It was a bittersweet time.

Chapter 22

I was accepted into the Ph.D. program in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT starting the fall of 2016. MIT's EECS program only offers terminal masters degrees to gradates of their undergraduate program so I had to sign up for the Ph.D. program from the start. The only way to get into MIT's EECS graduate program without an MIT undergraduate degree is as a Ph.D. candidate. My degree in Computer Engineering, my name on three patents, and a very strong GRE score gained me admission to the program. The fact that I was recruited to play on their NCAA Division III volleyball team didn’t hurt either. Since I didn’t have a master’s degree, I had to complete that first as part of the Ph.D. program, which I did in the spring of 2018.

Pete didn't know that I was going for a Ph.D. when he was listing my accomplishments when we first 'met' again. I had not, technically, misled him about only being a lowly engineer-in-training since I had passed the first exam that qualifies me for engineer-in-training status with the state and am waiting for the required years of practice before sitting for the professional engineering licensing exam. I just didn't offer to inform him of my Ph.D. candidacy until later in the date. It seems that being a Ph.D. candidate intimidates young men and scares them away. I have learned to wait until the relationship has a toe hold before springing that fact on a potential date.

Of the four new patents that Pete referred to, three of them were the result of work completed at Broussard Industries before, or just after, graduation from high school. It just took time for them to get filed. And, like my other patents, they are jointly held by Tom, myself, and other researchers working for Broussard Industries.

I did complete another patentable project with my advisor during my masters research. The project was a smaller part of my overall Ph.D. research project. It will probably come as no surprise that my Ph.D. project is one that I brought with me from Broussard Industries. Tom has contracted with MIT to tackle a particularly difficult research problem that we have been struggling with since the company had first started. I suspect that the funding was also a consideration in my acceptance to MIT's Ph.D. program but I was not getting any special treatment from my advisor and professors.

When Pete and I met, I had only been home for a few of days. I have come home for the Christmas break and would be staying for a few months to collaborate with Broussard's researchers on my project. I would normally have been out at the research facility but had been catching up with some work at my headquarters office when Pete and I met. I will be heading back to Cambridge to continue my work there in the summer.

If things go well, I should be done with my Ph.D. later this academic year. My graduation date depends on when the project will achieve its objective.

With research, it is hard to tell when, and if, the objective will be reached. Einstein has been quoted as saying "If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called Research." That is pretty true of my project. We are not really sure what we are doing, but we know where we want to be. As my advisor pointed out when I asked when we'd be done, it will be done when it is done, and not a minute sooner!

At MIT I am part of a research group working on projects related to Control and Decision Systems. It is not worth getting into the details of the research here. I find that there are only a few people whose eyes don’t glaze over when I get talking about the technical aspects of my research.

While at MIT, I lived on campus the first year in a graduate dorm apartment with three other girls. The university requires all first year students to live on campus. During that year I got involved in a group called GW6: Graduate Women in Course 6. The mission of the group is "To provide EECS graduate women with an environment in which to develop mentorships and friendships and to gain support and encouragement in completing their degree." We had a lot of fun and I made lots of new friends. Kelley is attending Boston University, right across the Charles River, and we moved into a rather expensive off campus apartment, along with a couple of other girls, our second year. We are still rooming together.

No one at MIT has ever questioned my gender. The continuing issue is with my age.

The admissions office and my advisors all know that I am really forty-one years old, but to the rest of the campus, I am a young twenty-one (soon to be twenty-two) year old Ph.D. candidate child prodigy. The good news, is that I am not the only one. MIT attracts such students. I did not stand out as much as I might have at any other campus.

----<0>----

One early December morning during my first term at MIT, I was chatting with a few other girls in the hallway of the student union when I looked up to see a male university employee walk by. It was obvious to me that he was discretely checking us out, something that college men were constantly doing. My mind flashed back immediately to that day during my transition when I realized that girls no longer caught my attention like they had before. I was now on the other end of the look. I realized that I was now part of the eye candy in the student union. What a switch.

I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

An hour later I was sitting by myself eating a light lunch in the crowded food court of the student union when a young man, a freshman, approached my table.

"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked?

I waved at the seat, "Go ahead. I'm about done."

"No rush," he said, "My name is Jared."

"Hi, Jared," I responded, "I am Andi."

Over the next few minutes we traded basic biographical information. Where are you from? What are you studying? What do you do for fun? That sort of thing.

"Wow!" he said on learning of my major, "Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. That's pretty cool. I'm in the first year of the Civil Engineering program. Don't you find the math professors to be pretty brutal?"

"I don't know," I responded with a shrug. "I'm not taking any math courses this semester."

"I thought that all first year engineering students took Calculus?" he seemed confused. "Did you test out of it?"

"Well, actually," I admitted, "I am a first year Ph.D. student."

"Seriously?" he seemed stunned.

"Seriously," I confirmed.

"Wow," he said. Jared didn't seem to know what to say at that point, but I could see that he was reevaluating his purpose for seeking me out.

"You can't be over twenty," he observed when his thought processes settled down.

"I'll be nineteen soon," I said helpfully.

"How can you be a Ph.D. student when you are only eighteen?" he was clearly confused and intimidated.

I shrugged. "I finished my B.S. in Computer Engineering last year and they let me in."

"I had heard that MIT had some child prodigies," he said, "but you are the first one that I've met."

"You must not have time for fun," he said, obviously fishing.

"I keep busy," I told him, "between research, classes, and volleyball, there is not a lot of time left."

"Volleyball?" he asked.

"Yes," I responded, "I am on the women's varsity volleyball team too."

"Wow," he was saying that a lot. "Um, it was nice meeting you. Maybe I will see you around. I've got to get to class."

With that, he got up and left with his half eaten sandwich.

The good news about being away at college is that Tom and Sandra cannot scare off potential suitors. The bad news is that the undergraduate boys 'my age' have all been intimidated when they learn that I am a Ph.D. student. And that I am on the volleyball team. I did manage to snag a few dates my first year away from home, but I rarely went out with the same guy more than once. I have decided that most guys aren't interested in a girl that just might be smarter or more accomplished than they are. It must be something in the male ego. To keep a man in their lives, most women have either accepted being second fiddle, or at least let their men think that they are.

While I can't hide that I am a Ph.D. candidate and on the volleyball team, I do hide the fact that I am a multi-millionaire. That information would bring out a different set of undesirable suitors. It was bad enough being labeled a girl with rich parents when people found out who my parents are without throwing in the fact that I have a net worth of well over ten million dollars on my own. My annual investment income has reached the point that my income tax bill normally exceeds the annual income of the average American. I will have to know Pete a lot better than I do now before I reveal the true nature of my fiscal situation to him.

I wondered if I was ever intimidated by strong women in my past life. I never let Sandra's accomplishments bug me, did I? I don't think so. It is getting harder to remember the days before the change.

----<0>----

Sandra and I have talked on the phone or Skype several times a week over the years so that we can keep up to date on each other’s lives. I don’t think that a day has gone by without at least one text or email exchange between us. She has been a great sounding board as I have occasionally wrestled with the social issues of being a college coed. She heard about every one of my dates, and has given me advice where needed to avoid relationship disasters or to pick up the pieces when they occurred.

Sandra has had her hands full managing the business affairs of the still growing company, being a wife, and raising three active children with Tom. I have to hand it to Tom - he has followed his parent's advice and has devoted considerable time to his marriage and family. Sandra has done the same.

Tom Jr. had just started school when I left for MIT. The twins were an energetically happy pair of four-year-olds and were already learning how to take advantage of their twin status, driving their parents and nanny around the bend. Tom has been no match for their natural cuteness. He is helpless when faced with innocent puppy dog eyes.

"Andi!" little four-year-old Charlotte excitedly said in a Skype call just a few months after I first left home, "I drew you a picture."

She held up a paper with crayon scribbles on it for me to see.

"It's beautiful, Charlotte," I told her with as much passion as I can muster.

"I did one too!" Melanie holding up her masterpiece. She was not about to be out done by her sister.

"Yours is beautiful too, Melanie," I let her know.

"Girls," Sandra interjected, "say goodnight to your sister. It is your bedtime."

"I want Andi to read a story," Melanie pouted.

"Me too," Charlotte agreed.

The girls love to Skype their big sister. One evening Sandra had found the twins in the Study knocking on the computer screen saying "wake up Andi." It was so cute.

Their big sister likes to read them bedtime stories. Little Tom frequently joins us.

I laughed, "Okay, one story, girls. Which one?"

"Cat Hat!" they shouted in unison.

"Not Goodnight Moon?" I asked.

"Cat Hat!" they shouted in unison again.

Dr. Seuss was their favorite author.

I pulled out the requested book from my stash of children's books and held it up to the webcam and started to read.

I really missed the family when I was away from home. These calls helped to ease the separation.

----<0>----

I knocked on my advisor's office door last September and heard a short "Come in Andrea" coming from behind the closed door.

I had come for my weekly meeting with my advisor about progress on my research project.

He looks up as he puts down the draft of a technical journal paper that we have been working on together.

"So how is our child prodigy doing this week?" he asks with tongue firmly in cheek. He always starts our weekly meetings off this way. He is well aware of my true age, as is evidenced by the next step in our weekly ritual.

"You mean the grad student that is older than you are, Sonny Boy?" I pointed out. He is in his mid-thirties and is a brilliant researcher in his field.

"That's Dr. Sonny Boy to you," he grins back at me.

"So," he enquires, "what do you have for me this week, mother?"

"I may older than you," I scowled at him, "but not that old."

"I still think that you are lying about your age," he told me before we got into the details of the project.

"Good work, Andrea," he tells me an hour later after we have covered just about everything that I have been working on. To me, didn't seem that we were making much progress towards our goal. There are still a few persistent problems that we have been unable to crack.

"When we can find our way around these last few issues," he reassured me, "we can wrap up this project and get you your degree."

"Maybe," I skeptically agree, "but you know that I could make faster progress on this if I go back to Wisconsin for a month or two. We can probably get to where we are going without it, but a few months at Broussard Industries' R&D lab will accelerate our progress. We might even be able to reach our goal by this summer. There are some propriety aspects to this project that are best done from our labs in Wisconsin. I have the clearance to access what we need and you don't. The research grant doesn't give you access to everything, but I do have that access. It won't cost you anything either."

He thought about that for a few minutes.

"I can see where that will help," he admitted, "But you have some coursework that you are enrolled in this term that you need to do from here. I don't know why you are still taking courses, you have more than enough credits to satisfy your committee."

"I know," I acknowledge his observation. "There is still so much to learn, but this will be the last term and I only have one course. I am also in my last year with the volleyball team. I could go to Wisconsin when the term is over. "

"That would work," he agreed. "By the way, I have been talking with the other members of your advisory committee. You know that we tried to get you to take the General Exam last Spring. We all think that you are more than ready for it and that you must quit stalling and take the exam. When would you like to schedule it? We can do it this term or maybe in January sometime. We are tired of waiting for you to put this behind you."

The program requires a General Examination at the completion of your advanced program of study. I knew that I was past due to take the exam since I have long since finished the required coursework, but have been putting it off. I have to admit that I am terrified of the exam.

"January works," I replied, "It will give me time to review more and I can fly back for the exam and spend some time in the labs here after it is over."

The nice thing about completing the exam is that I will be able to focus 100% on research once it is done. That should allow me to solve the last few remaining issues with the project. That is, if I pass the exam. If I don't, then I get one more shot at the exam before they wash me out of the program.

"Don't worry about the exam, Andrea." He smiled at me. "You are more prepared than any grad student that I've had in years. You could sit for the exam today and pass."

"I don't know," I nervously replied. "This is a very high stakes exam and I want to be prepared. I'll come back in January for it if you let me go to Wisconsin for the winter."

"You know that we don't have the budget to fly you back and forth all the time," he points out.

"Don't worry about it," I informed him with a smile, looking forward to another ride on the corporate jet. Broussard Industries has grown to the point of justifying the lease of their own jet to get the executives to where they need to go. The jet even has the company logo on the tail. "As I said, it won't cost you anything. Tom will cover it."

I left his office with a tentative date for the General Exam in late January and an agreement for me to spend the winter in Wisconsin.

I was looking forward to a few months at home, but I am seriously worried about the exam. Somehow, I don't think that the Posse will be able to help me study for this one, anymore than I could help them in their respective fields of study.

----<0>------

"Hey girlfriend," Susie greeted me over the internet one Sunday evening this past October, "is Kelley joining us today or is she out with lover boy?"

"I'm here!" Kelley shouts from the kitchen. Kelley and I are roommates in Boston. Kelley is also engaged to be married next summer.

Kelley ended up at Boston University studying Journalism. Last year she had an internship at the Boston Globe and has visions of becoming an investigative journalist. She also met a really cool guy who is doing well in his pre-med program. They have been dating for two years now and plan on tying the knot after graduation. As we are roommates, I have watched the love story unfold and I am very happy for Kelley. She has asked me to be her Maid-of-Honor and the rest of the Posse to be Bridesmaids. At least I have experience in the job. It won't be nearly as much work as Tom and Sandra's wedding as they are planning a small wedding back home in Wisconsin. Where they end up next year will depend on where he gets accepted into medical school.

The Posse and I have worked to keep up with each other as we have worked our way through college. We have a scheduled weekly Skype session every Sunday night. On most Sunday's we are all there, but occasionally it is just a subset of the Posse. It is fairly easy since Kelley and I are roommates and so are Jenny and Susie.

All the girls are in their senior year of college, having maintained full ride academic scholarships for the whole four years.

"So," I asked, "how's the next big name in fashion design?"

Susie is making a splash in the Textile & Fashion Design program at UW-Madison. She has been working hard to gain acceptance for advanced studies at the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She had a very exciting internship at a well known design house in New York last summer which really gave her the exposure that she will need to get into FIT. We are all pulling for her. Susie also took a number of marketing classes and hopes to open her own fashion business some day. Susie has also been a leader of the UW competitive sailing team. She and Jenny have been roommates for the whole four years.

"I don't know," Susie sighs, "I just found out that Jenny wants me to design her wedding dress. And coordinated Bridesmaid dresses."

Jenny is also engaged, but they haven't set a date yet. Wouldn't you know it, her intended is a punter on the varsity football team at UW-Madison. She was the girl in seventh grade who thought that all football players were full of themselves. The rest of the Posse is not so sure about him but he is also a top student in the business school. He is from Georgia and has a very sexy and smooth southern accent. Jenny is totally in love with him. The wedding will probably be this summer also, with Susie being invited to be the Maid-of-Honor and the rest of us as Bridesmaids. Jenny's love of cheerleading landed her on the cheer squad at UW-Madison which led to her meeting Anthony, her intended. Jenny will be completing a History degree this academic year and has plans to go into Law. She has applications in to several prestigious law schools, but hopes to stay right there in Madison for her Law degree. It will depend on where Anthony is accepted for his MBA. They have both applied to Harvard for their respective graduate degrees, so it is possible that they could end up in the Boston/Cambridge area next year. That would be exciting!

"Can you do mine too?" Kelley asked as she came in from the kitchen.

"Maybe I should do a wedding line for my senior project," Susie sighed. "I could do a different dress for each of us. We can talk about it when we are home for the Christmas Holiday. You two would have to come to Madison to model them for the show."

"As if I will ever need one," I retorted. I still couldn't quite see myself as a wife. The idea was not without its appeal, but somehow the image never really came into focus. I had yet to find a guy even remotely close to being the right one. "Anyway, I can probably be there for the show. I talked my advisor into letting me do some research from the BI R&D lab in Wisconsin this winter."

"That's great news," Susie said, "You will only be a couple of hours away. We can get together more often."

"As far as wedding dresses go, I don't have any immediate plans for one either," Susie pointed out, "but you never know when lightening will strike. You could be just standing there watching the weather and Mr. Right could show up beside you."

Susie had had a couple of relationships in college, but neither of them had ended well.

"Yeah, right," I dismissed her prediction.

"You both will find Mr. Right," Kelley assured us. "I can't imagine two such beautiful and talented women being left on the shelf for too much longer."

"I think it's the 'talented' part that is scaring them off," I sighed.

"So where is Jenny tonight?" Kelley asked.

"She is out with her lover boy," Susie confirmed. "The team won that big game yesterday and they are all out celebrating, again. I suspect that she'll be staying over at his place tonight. She usually does after a victory celebration. She said to say hi and promised to be here next week."

"I think that she should bring Anthony with her," I stated. "We need to explain the Facts of Life to him."

We had come up with our own version of the Facts of Life and had tried them out on Kelley's intended during one of our evening group chats. We had asked Kelley to leave while the three of us grilled him. I don't think that our version has quite the punch that Tom and Sandra's do since he never flinched and promised to be good to our Kelley. Jenny's intended was overdue for his grilling.

After discussing current relationships, Susie asked, "Is anyone up for the Queen's Cup Race this summer? We almost won that race the past few years. This could be our year, if we can use the J/88 again."

The Queen's Cup is an offshore sailing race from Milwaukee across the Lake to Grand Haven, MI. We've been in the race every year since the summer before our senior year in high school. We have been SO close to winning a couple of times that it has become an obsession with Susie to keep trying.

"I'm in," I said, "I'll see if Tom is willing to move the boat to Milwaukee for the start. They could have a family outing sailing it back home after the race, like they did last year."

"I don't know," Kelley said. "The race is only two weeks after the wedding and I hope to be working for the Globe again. I don't think that I will be able to make it."

"You can do it," I encouraged her, "You could fly out Thursday night and fly home on Sunday. You won't want to miss the victory party when Susie accepts the trophy."

"We will see," she didn't sound hopeful.

"I will spring for the jet," I tried to entice her. "We can travel together as I will probably be in Cambridge this summer and you can bring your new husband with you."

I really looked forward to our Sunday chats. They would go on for hours as we kept up on each other's lives and supported each other in our various challenges. I love these girls.

Anthony did get his day before the tribunal the next week, and I am happy to report, that he passed the inquisition with flying colors though it was a little tense at times. He couldn't understand why he had to get our blessing. In the end, he did promise to always love and cherish Jenny and to give her space to pursue her dreams. He and Jenny will be a good match.

----<0>----

My graduate course only had a few students in it, so we successfully lobbied the professor to give our final exam early. I am sure that I did fairly well on it. The upside was that I was able to catch a ride home on the corporate jet on the evening of Friday the thirteenth along with a couple of BI executives who were heading back to headquarters after some meetings in the Washington, D.C. area. They had to divert to Boston to pick me up but no one seemed too unhappy about the side trip. The crew didn't seem to be too happy about finding space for three large boxes of books that I would be needing to study for the General Exam. Then there were the two huge suitcases of clothing and accessories.

I would have taken Kelley with me but she had finals the next week then she and her fiancé were going to visit with his family for the week leading up to Christmas. They would be coming to Wisconsin to see her family the week leading up to the New Year.

After a two and a half hour trip, we landed in Wisconsin a little after 7 PM.

"Andi!" Little Tom enthusiastically greeted me at the airport with a huge hug about my waist.

"Someone's happy to see their big sister," Sandra commented with a smile. She had come to collect me from the airport. "Excuse me a minute, Andi, I need to have a short chat with the VP that was on your flight."

"And someone is happy to see their little brother," I said as I picked him up and spun him around while Sandra went to have her short conference.

"Put me down!" Little Tom begged while laughing. Apparently it is not cool for a third grader to be tossed around by his big sister but he clearly still enjoys it.

"How's third grade?" I asked him, which launched him into a detailed description of recent class activities.

When Sandra rejoined us, I asked, "Where are the twins?"

"Melanie and Charlotte," Sandra informed me, "are having time out. They pulled another prank on the nanny and are paying the price."

"Charlotte pretended to be Melanie," Little Tom told me, "and got Nanny all confused again."

"Yes," Sandra confirmed the story, "After school today, Melanie was told that she could not have a snack until her bed was made, so Charlotte took her place and then they switched after Melanie, posing as Charlotte, got a cookie from the kitchen. They both ended up with cookies and no bed was made. They both put up a fuss when I told them that they couldn't come meet you because of what they had done. I was going to just send them to bed, but Tom caved in and has let them stay up to greet you when we get home."

When we came in from the garage, Tom and the twins were there to get their hugs.

"Andi, Andi," the girls shouted with glee as I squatted down to scoop them up into a hug, "You are home!"

"Hello girls," I told them, "It is good to see you! You guys are getting to be so big!"

"Mama says that you are going to stay home," Charlotte stated.

"I will be home for a while," I confirmed.

"Can you come play with us?" Melanie asked.

"Not tonight," Sandra interjected, "It is past your bedtime girls and I am still not happy about the trick you played on Nanny."

The girls both gave their most angelic looks, "We're sorry Mama, we won't do it again."

Like that's going to happen. Not!

"Go get ready for bed," I told them, "and I'll come read with you two and Little Tom if you can be ready when I get there."

"Okay, Andi," they said in unison as the three children ran to their rooms to finish their bedtime preparations.

Sandra sighed, "You should be here more often. They listen to you better than anyone."

Tom gave me a hug, "Welcome home, Andi."

"Thanks Tom," I returned the hug, "for everything. It is good to be home."

"Do you have plans for the weekend?" Tom asked after the three of us had chatted for a few minutes. "We are thinking of taking the kids to see the lights at the Botanical Gardens tomorrow night. It would be a fun family outing."

"Probably not tomorrow night. I promised my parents that I would come for a visit tomorrow evening," I tell them. "My mother and I have a date to do some Christmas shopping tomorrow afternoon. Sunday will be better. The rest of the Posse has final exams next week, so they won't be home yet."

I haven't said much about it, but I have also kept in touch with my real parents and family. It took a couple of years, but they are all now comfortable with the 'new' me. I make time to see my parents every time that I get home. I often attend extended family functions, for example I will be attending the annual Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house along with all their descendants living within driving distance. I will be just another face in the happy crowd. In the summers, I have spent time out on their sailboat with them. I usually chat with mom at least once a month or so. My sister and I keep in touch as well. I don't hear from my brother very often. The family seem pleased with the way things were turning out. Mom now works in the school district administration and will be retiring after this academic year. Dad is considering retirement as well.

"We'll plan on Sunday then," Tom agreed.

Sandra and Tom helped me carry my bags up to my room where we found the kids waiting on my bed for their bedtime story. Being in second and third grades, their reading skills were sufficient that I had them help me to read the stories. The girls had expanded their reading horizons past Dr. Seuss as they have gotten older.

"Can we sleep with you tonight?" Charlotte asked with a look of pure innocence.

"Please," Melanie added her request with pleading eyes.

Sandra answered for me, "Not tonight, Pumpkins. Andi needs to get settled in and you two need to get some sleep."

"We'll do it one night after school gets out," I promised them, "if you don't pull anymore pranks on Nanny. Little Tom can join us too if he can put up with us three girls."

After putting the kids to bed, Sandra and I spent another hour sitting on my bed chatting before we each went to bed.

As I lay there thinking while waiting for sleep to claim me, I thought about how wonderful life had become. The money and professional success were nice, but I realized that the thing I valued most were the close ties with family and friends. Those relationships are the foundation for my other successes. Without the support of family and friends it would have been much harder to be successful in the other areas of my live.

Thinking of Kelley and Jenny and their upcoming weddings, I was starting to wonder if finding a life companion was next on my list of accomplishments. I found myself wanting to be part of a loving married relationship again. While reading to the kids that night, I had felt a feeling that I had been repressing whenever I am around them. I realized that I wanted a family of my own. I wanted what Tom and Sandra have. I wanted a husband and children to love. I just didn't know how to go about it given my odd circumstances. I knew that I would have to trust fate to provide a way to add that missing link in my life. After all, Grandma had continued to tell me that she saw love in my future.

I had smiled to myself as I realized, even without a husband and family of my own, I was content and happy.