Chapter 36 - We've Got To Talk

There's not really much to say about our time in grad school except it was all-consuming. What did touch far more on our lives was Sandra's increasing frustration with the male-oriented bullshit of the company she worked for. From her point-of-view, as well as our growing understanding of the business world, the company was missing obvious opportunities and playing turtle while technology and marketing opportunities passed them by. This culminated around our spring break in 1973, when Sandra and Doug uttered that immortal line: "We've got to talk."

I don't know about you, but when my parents said that it usually meant I had been caught red-handed at something I didn't want them to know about. My alleged adulthood vanished and I was a guilty ten-year-old in an instant.

"Uh-oh," smiled Sandra. "I recognize that look. My daughter used it frequently when I caught her doing something naughty. I won't ask what you feel guilty about, even though it might be an interesting conversation, but this is the good kind of 'we have to talk'."

Things at her company had come to a head and the higher-ups had decided to sell off Sandra's division. "Under-performing" was the buzzword, but with the mismanagement from corporate Sandra couldn't see how anything else could have happened. The upshot was that Sandra the manager, Doug the research chemist and several of the dedicated workers in her division had put in a bid to buy the division, which had been accepted. If all went as planned, somewhere around September or October the deal would be done and Sandra would be the new CEO of what had been the women's products branch of the company.

Sandra and Doug thought a pair of bright young women with shiny new MBAs would fit right in with their plans. I had chosen to specialize more in financials and marketing, Julie in supply management and the nuts-and-bolts of production. Were we interested?

Does the pope shit in the woods, to use an anachronism for the times. A guaranteed job after our summer courses were over, working with a team determined to provide women with the best health products on the market? What could be better? The high-fives flew fast and furious and we drank a toast to the new venture as Doug and his harem celebrated at a very nice restaurant.

While we were all nice and mellow, Julie and I hit them with our own "we've got to talk." Once the summer semester was paid for there was no reason to put off our marriage. We quickly agreed that the ceremony should be held here and not in my home town, two women getting married might be a bit much for the town to handle. My parents and grandparents could make the trip and celebrate with us far more easily.

Turned out that Doug's son Stuart, my escort at their wedding, was actually an ordained minister in one of those oddball churches that you write away to and for a few bucks you get a fancy certificate that says you're a man of the god of your choice. Since Stuart was also a lawyer, he assured us it was perfectly legal.

Which was how, long before same-sex marriage became legal, two brides walked down the aisle before a small audience of friends and relatives and said "I do" to each other.

I do have to mention one particular wedding present, a framed copy of Jacob W. Greene's 1889 patent for the "Bosom Form". It hangs in my office to this day, reminding me of just how far technology has come in fulfilling a woman's dreams.

We were gifted with a short honeymoon in the Caribbean between semesters (Doug and Sandra thought it was a fine place for a honeymoon) before finishing up our academic careers. In an excess of optimism we packed light, leaving all means of contraception behind. We were married, we wanted children, and we gave it the good old college try to get one started.

Life couldn't be better.