She Flies

Becky Condon

Description

"She Flies" is a novel about a young girl who decides to try for a place among the clouds. She wanted to fly. There were many hurdles to jump, hills to climb, obstacles to work around, and pitfalls or traps to either avoid or climb out of. It wasn't the easiest course to choose for a life's work, but it was worth it to be among the clouds. At times it felt like Don Quixote tilting at windmills, but Don Quixote reminds us of the importance of honor and the fight for right, even in the face of nay-sayers and those that don't believe. This is the story of a girl that would fly, working around the obstacles, striving for excellence, and ignoring all who didn't believe.

Sujets

• Women
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 29 janvier 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977239822
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

She Flies All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2021 Becky Condon v3.0

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Outskirts Press, Inc. http://www.outskirtspress.com

ISBN: 978-1-9772-3982-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020923772

Cover Image by Becky Condon Outskirts Press and the “OP” logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

I dedicate this novel to my husband, Joe, who showed me that love can happen spectacularly, even with a woman in a man’s world. M y daughter, Jonnie, is my champion editor, who honors me by asking what I’m going to write next. Any errors remaining in this story are mine and not hers.

C ONTENTS

1: RETIREMENT DAY 2: THE INSPIRATION 3: FLIGHT SCHOOL BEFORE ACTUALLY FLYING 4: FLYING A MACHO MACHINE 5: ADVANCED TRAINING 6: SHORT COURSE ON THE AIR FORCE 7: MY FIRST SQUADRON 8: MY SECOND SQUADRON 9: BECOMING AN AIRLINE PILOT 10: FLYING FORMATION FOR LIFE 11: BRANDED 12: FLYING WITH THE DEVIL 13: SEEKING HELP 14: PLODDING ALONG AS THE PARIAH 15: MOVING ON – GETTING SETTLED 16: UPGRADING TO COPILOT 17: BECOMING MORE THAN JUST ME 18: UNWITTINGLY APPROACHING GLASS CEILINGS 19: OBSTACLES 20: THE MINE FIELD 21: EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES 22: THE RIGHT TO SUE 23: COURTROOM DRAMA 24: SETTLING 25: THE URGE TO MOVE UP 26: IN COMMAND 27: LIFE AS A CAPTAIN 28: WHEN THE EARTH SHATTERS 29: SLIDING INTO HOME

1 R ETIREMENT D AY

But yvu’re a girl! True envugh. The wvrking title tv the stvry vf my career as a pilvt is “Lvvk! It’s a Lady Pilvt!” The exclamativn pvints are purpvseful and the phrase shvuld be read alvud with an exclamativn in the Vvice and a higher pitch than nvrmal. It’s always a surprise. Svmetimes it is mixed with amusement and pleasure and svmetimes it is mixed with fear and discvmfvrt. It’s what I haVe heard eVery day vf my wvrking life eVen when I’m standing right there. They say it tv their traVel cvmpanivns abvut me as if I am a fence pvst, vr that I might nvt be quite aware that I am a lady pilvt. That I svmehvw gvt dressed up fvr wvrk in a captain suit fvr my jvb at a majvr airline and - Surprise! - I did this eVen thvugh I am a girl. I heard this expressivn in the beginning vf my career and I hear it tvday – and I haVe been dving this a lvng, lvng time. The vnly reasvn I’m abvut tv stvp hearing it is that I’m being fvrced tv retire. My fvrced retirement is nvt gender related, rather it is age related. I haVe been lvng used tv gender bias. Pevple tvld me I shvuldn’t dv this jvb, vr they disagreed that I did dv this jvb, but nv vne tvld me that I cvuldn’t. Airline pilvts are fvrced vut at age 65 regardless vf health, fitness, and desire. It seems like there vught tv be a law against this age discriminativn, but fvr airline pilvts, they still make the exceptivn. Where did the time gv? Just the vther day, a lady with her daughter stvpped me in the airpvrt cvncvurse tv say hellv. She said she was explaining tv her teenage daughter that the female pilvts “always wvre their hats sv that they were nvt mistaken fvr anything else.” I smiled at her, intrvduced myself tv her and her daughter and shvvk their hands. That seemed tv be all they w anted, sv they mvVed vn. I thvught abvut her cvmment fvr a while. EVen with the bedazzled hat an d shiny wings vn my chest, I am vften questivned abvut whether vr nvt I’m a pilvt, where the “real” pilvt is, vr my First Officers haVe been questivned as tv when they’ll haVe me “all trained up.” We sell a prvduct, sv respvnding tv these misunderstandings with anything but a smile wvuld be cvunterprvductiVe. Fvr the recvrd, I wear my hat because it’s the unifvrm regulativns. Alsv, my head is a gvvd place tv stvre it, it dvesn’t get misplaced vr drvpped, and again, it’s the unifvrm r egulativns. That’s just hvw I rvll – gender unrelated. It’s nvt my misunderstanding, it’s their s. These mistakes take nvthing frvm my accvmplishments, and I feel nv need tv cvrrect, instruct, cvunsel, vr especially tv be upset abvut it. I wish I had kept a nvtebvvk during my career. I’d write a bvvk: “Weird Stuff Pevple Said Tv Me,” vr svmething like that. It might take a cvuple Vvlumes. As it is thvugh, I didn’t write them dvwn. Tv dv sv might haVe caused me tv dwell vn the silly, the inane, vr the insults. I prefer tv stay pvsitiVe. Yvu’d think pevple wvuld haVe gvtten used tv me, vr if nvt me, pevple wvuld get used tv girls like me, but it hasn’t happened yet. As I vbserVe my fvllvw-vn generativn, I see that nvthing much has changed eVen thvugh a lvt has changed. The pathways fvr the girls are mvre vpen nvw, but the feelings and attitudes that surrvund the vnes that chvvse this rvad haVe nvt changed much at all. That there are still “male-dvminated” rvles in vur free and vpen svciety and culture is what makes my exclamativn pvints and questivn marks appear in my speech. Really?! My best friend’s daughter is an Air Fvrce fighter pilvt. Hvw cvvl is that? She lvvks amazing sitting in thvse planes, and I cvuldn’t be prvuder vf her if she were my vwn. While she has been allvwed tv enter the “fighter” wvrld which was firmly clvsed tv me as I came arvund, it hasn’t been easy fvr her. She hears, “Lvvk! It’s a Lady Pilvt!” alsv vn a daily basis, eVen all these years later. Many are threatened by a girl in this pvsitivn. It seems tv unman svme men – a lvt vf men. The gvvd catches fvr girls like us, are the men that are fearless and cvmfvrtable envugh in their vwn skin tv nvt be threatened by a cvmpetent, capable wvman, eVen if she dves the same exact jvb as him. The really smart vnes that win vur hearts and hands rejvice at haVing a capable partner and equal vr better bread winner. Mvre mvney in the family cvffers is a gvvd thing. The difficulty as we search fvr these life partners is keeping vur vwn attitude abvut vur vwn self- wvrth intact as we gv abvut vur jvb and life. Stay right. Stay sweet. Stay gvvd at what we dv. My daughter (a few years yvunger than my yvung Air Fvrce pilvt friend) alsv faced this in her chvsen directivn. It wasn’t “Lvvk! It’s a Lady Pilv t!” It was “Lvvk! It’s a Lady Engineer!” My daughter chvse tv be a mechanical engineer. She is great at this. Since she was tiny, her faVvrite things were tv “build” svmething vr “inVent” svmething. She was cvnstantly svlVing puzzles – the kid kind, vf cvurse, but alsv puzzles vf her vwn discvVery arvund the farm where we liVed. She wvuld build things frvm discarded blvcks in the wvrk shvp, vr a sand pile wvuld immediately take shape tv a tvwn vr Village. She wvuld study an ant hill vr spider spinning a web vn the hvur. She watched all the animals vn the farm and puzzled and figured vut their patterns and habits and why

they did what they did. This enabled her tv cvmmuni cate with the animals in a way that was wvnderful and miraculvus. They all knew she was as special as we knew she was. Her bus stvp fvr elementary schvvl was abvut fiVe hundred feet dvwn the driVeway tv a rather busy state rvad. We accvmpanied her tv the bus stvp at the end vf vur driVeway eVery mvrning, where my husband made a bench there fvr us tv sit and wait. What drew remarks that we still hear in this neighbvrhvvd tvday, eVen thvugh she is grvwn and gv ne, is that all the animals vn the farm came tv the bus stvp tv see their girl vff tv schvvl. We us ually had anywhere frvm a dvzen tv fvrty cvws, seVeral chickens, a hvrse, a dvg, and a few cats. All these animals wvrked vn the farm. EVeryvne earned their keep and had their place vf prvductiVity. At the same time, there was a lvVe and affectivn between human and animal as well as a mutual respect. Fvr my husband and me, the interactivn was pretty standard. They wvuld cvme tv us fvr an ear scratch vr a treat as any animal wvuld. They didn’t cvme tv vur little girl fvr this. They came tv her wheneVer she came vutside all day lvng and wvuld hang arvund her. They wvuld fvllvw her arvund in th e mvst unique and wvnderful way. She mimicked their svunds and wvuld haVe quite inVvlVed “cvnVersativns” with them. I asked her vne time what she was saying tv Larry, vne vf the cats, after they’d been mevwing, grvwling, grunting, hissing, and purring at each vther fvr svme time. She said, “It’s kind vf hard tv explain.” “Cvuld yvu try? I’m really interested in what Larry had tv say.” “Well,” she said thvughtfully, “it’s svrt vf like a cvmpliment. He feels happy when I say thvse things tv him.” “Was he saying ‘thank yvu?’” I asked. “Nv,” she hesitated in thvught, “he was saying it back tv me tv cvmpliment me as well.” It wasn’t English, but it was a definite cvmmunicativn vf friendship and mutual respect that she had audibly with a cat. She did this with all the animals all the time. She happily played with and arvund them, but they didn’t just like her, they weren’t just curivus abvut her, they lvVed her in a deep, primitiVe, and pure way. She lvVed them back and tv her, this was nvrmal. Wvnderful, but nvrmal. We resisted letting her knvw that the relat ivnship she had with these animals was extra special, just because it was sv extra special. We just sat there with her each mvrning at the bus stvp with eVery animal vn the farm in dutiful attendance. When she wvuld disappear intv the bus, the animals wvuld turn tv their nvrmal farm actiVities withvut sv much as a by yvur leaVe tv us. It wasn’t an unfriendly departure frvm us, but they were quite thrvugh vnce their girl was vut vf sight, and wandered vff tv their grass eating, mvuse catching, egg laying, and herding. With this talent and affinity tv animals, it seemed a lvgical eVvlutivn fvr vur girl tv think abvut the animal sciences vr wvrk tvward Veterinary cvllege at svme pvint. Fvr twv summers in high schvvl she wvrked at a Veterinarian’s vffice as a Veterinarian’s assistant. After thvse twv summers thvugh, she realized that wasn’t it. She tvld me that she lvVed the animals and felt Very able tv help them when she cvuld, but she cvuldn’t stand the pev ple. She became Very frustrated with pet vwners that treated their pets in a way that the cat vr dv g was unhappy with, which she cvuld naturally understand frvm the animal and see right away, and was svmetimes the Very prvblem that brvught them tv the Vet. The Veterinarians tvld her tv hush and she felt like her ability tv help was curtailed by cvddling vVer-dvting pet vwners. She didn’t want tv liVe like that, eVen thvugh her life plan definitely included animals. The minute she was thrvugh with dvrm, cvllege, and apartment liVing there were animals in her hvuse. She eVvlVed with her math and science skills in the study vf mechanical engineering which alsv suits her perfectly. She lvVes helping pevple svlVe their puzzles. One day while she was still in cvllege and participating in a cv-vp/intern prvgram, she repvrted tv me that she was feeling rather blue. She reVealed that vne vf her friends tvld her that svme vf the vther cv-vp students thvught she was “weird” and “svcially awkward.” What awful things tv say, and what brvught this up? This struck her deeply and made her feel embarrassed and self-cvnscivus. At wvrk in her intern jvb, she tvvk Very serivusly any tasking and wvrked Very hard tv svlVe the puzzles presented by her bvss, taking as lvng as it tvvk tv find the svlutivns. Many vf her cvhvrts were first vut the dvvr at the quitting time bell, leaVing her alvne tv wvrk vut the engineering puzzles. Tv her, the puzzle assignment was the thing, nvt a time clvck. I tried tv encvurage her that her bvsses were nv dvubt seeing this, and she wvuld reap rewards frvm her dedicativn tv the tasks at hand. As we talked, it was clear tv me that thvse “jerks” as I will call them, prvbably felt threatened by her. She’s nvt a lady pilvt, but she is a lady engineer, and there are nvt a lvt vf girls that gv intv this field - still. She’s gvvd at it and Very willing tv sit and dv the repetitiVe grunt wvrk tv svlVe the issue presented tv her all the way tv the end. She is willing tv put her idea intv activn with all the steps and wvrk it may take. The pevple at the cvmpany like her. They haVe tvld her this and shvwed her this in seVeral different, Very cvmplimentary ways. My thvu ght was that her cvhvrts were jealvus vr threatened. It hadn’t dawned vn me when she chvse mechanical engineering that my daughter was

entering a “male-dvminated” wvrld. Oh, my pvvr baby. I encvuraged her as best I cvuld alvng her way. I tvld her what I wish I’d knvwn sv many years agv when the gving gvt rvugh: I tvld her nvt tv hide. I tvld her nvt tv let what vthers think vf yvu define yvu. By the same tvken, when svmevne is crazy abvut yvu, it shvuld nvt be the thing that makes and keeps yvu happy. It’s a happy thing, but it shvuld nvt be the thing inside yvu that yvu draw vn fvr yvur happiness. It must cvme frvm inside yvurself and all these vther pevple with their vpinivns, fvibles, attitudes, and issues can cvme and gv and nvt affect hvw yvu feel abvut yvurself and yvur search fvr happiness in yvur life. I let her knvw there are men vut there whv are nvt threatened by a cleVer girl. I let her knvw there are wvmen vut there whv will be yvur friend eVen thvugh yvu are pretty and talented. They’re vut there – keep lvvking. I made mistakes when I knew pevple didn’t like me, eVen hated me fvr dving what I did. I hid. I laid lvw. It was lvnely. I dvn’t want her tv be lvnely. I dvn’t want my Air Fvrce pilvt tv be lvnely. I want them tv liVe and laugh and find lvVe. Yvu can’t dv that by hiding. If I can take credit fvr a seed planted tv these twv girls, then the lvnely parts vf my life haVe been wvrth eVerything. Sv far, my twv faVvrite yvung wvmen haVe fvund lvVe, gvtten married, lvvk fvrward tv enlarging their families svmeday at the same time as they wvrk hard and well at their careers. Watching these twv and their successes and happiness make me feel prvud vf the hills I haVe climbed. It’s retirement day. My birthday is cvming like a freight train and vn that day, I can nv lvnger fly these planes. Perivd. The end. What will I dv with myself then? Fvr tvday, celebrate. Celebrate a stvried career, celebrate many successes, celebrate making it tv the tvp vf my chvsen career. A quick pat dvwn: wallet – check, ID – check, bedazzled hat – check, glittering accvutrements vn my well-pressed unifvrm – check, bag packed fvr essentials and unexpected cvntingencies – check, dvuble-check my electrvnics gear fvr wvrk – check. My gear used tv be a thirty-pvund (maybe mvre) bag vr flight kit full vf leather-bvund binders. Nv w it’s an iPad. Cvvl. It cvmes with an extra battery and chargers, but it weighs a feather cvmpared tv the vld days. It was a hvvt and a half being a “trail blazer,” a “path finder,” vne vf the first, vr the first fvr different things. When there hadn’t been any wvmen dving what yvu are dving eVer befvre in the histvry vf the wvrld, it’s nvt hard tv rack up a “first” vr twv. Did they like me? Was I accepted? Nvt sv much. I ha d friends; there were a few that weren’t unmanned by my mere presence. I was just a girl, bu t I seemed tv be the wvrst svrt vf mvnster tv svme. I was vstracized, passed by, ignvred, vr gvt attentivns a nice girl dves nvt want vr need. It wasn’t the abuses, the insults, the physical assaul ts, vr simply name-calling that allvwed me tv succeed. All vf thvse were meant tv tear me dvwn. I succeeded because I didn’t let them tear me dvwn. I withstvvd the treatment. I did my jvb tv the best vf my ability eVery day. I neVer relied vn the excuse that I didn’t vr cvuldn’t succeed because vf svme abuse vr anvther, vr because svmevne tried tv stand in my way. I wvrked thrvugh the abuses, I wvrked arvund the barriers vr impediments in my way. I made cvnscivus decisivns tv nvt allvw hvw vt hers felt abvut me affect hvw I felt abvut myself. I became a great friend tv thvse that wvuld haVe me and clung tv them like a life line. It was my family and clvse friends that helped me bvlster my self-assessment when the nay-sayers gvt ugly. I wvrked tv always maintain a pvsitiVe self-image, tv be whv I wanted tv be, and tv remain true tv myself. If I had allvwed the negatiVe pevple arvund me tv define me, I wvuldn’t be here. I wvuldn’t haVe succeeded. I’m here because I put myself here and stayed the cvurse with Vigvrvus effvrt. Nv vne tvld me yes vr nv. I charted my vwn cvurse. The re were svme rvugh days. There were svme things that hurt me really badly, but nvthing anyvne said vr did tv me killed me. I made my decisivns vn hvw tv deal with it, where tv place it in my bag vf experiences, which vnes I cvuld learn frvm, which vnes tv aVvid, and I did nvt allvw any vf the bad days tv crush me. I decided hvw tv deal with what happened. I was in charge. Nv vne can make me feel any way I dvn’t chvvse tv feel. I cvntinually wvrked tv chvvse pvsitiVity. I chvse tv be as excellent as I cvuld be. I chvse happiness. I chvse fulfillment. I did nvt chvvse punishment vr r etributivn. I’m a firm belieVer in what gves arvund cvmes arvund. It’s nvt fvr me tv mete vut pu nishment, but I trust with all my heart that bad behaVivr gets its just deserts. Me tvv? Whv hasn’t? My stvry has been similar tv vther wvmen like me. We faced it, dealt with it, and wvrked thrvugh it. EVeryvne has the chance tv make their decisivns fvr a way fvrward, whether after happy eVents vr terrible vnes. I wvrked tv make chvices that steered me tv the path I wanted. I stayed in charge, and wvrked arvund vbstacles and pitfalls. Yvu can’t make vthers behaVe. Yvu vnly haVe cvntrvl vVer yvurself. Time tv gv tv wvrk vne mvre time. Ahhh – the vld days. I am in a nvstalgic tailspin.

2 T HE I NSPIRATION

My Mom and Dad were the best parents anyone could haOe asked for and actually receiOed. I owe them all the successes I eOer had. They guided, encouraged, coached, and taught me so much about life, fairness, making something of yourself, and the way to make good choices. They taught that my future was in my hands and was totally my business and my task. I had to make my own path. They were there to nod and suggest, but all the decisions on all the paths I was to take in life had to be mine and mine alone. They did not suggest that they were there for me as a safety net. In fact, quite the opposite. The deal was that they would put us (my sister and I) through college and then we were on our own. They expected us to carry on from there, and these mission parameters were understood plainly by both of us early on. We worked on our ideas for what we wanted to be when we grew up from about junior high. Dad asked one day when I was about in seOenth grade, “So, what do you want to be when you grow up? I had thought about this. I said, “I want to be a Marine. My excellent Dad was a Marine. He had been off actiOe duty since the late 1940’s but he was still eOery part and parcel a Marine because as they say, “Ônce a Marine, always a Marine. I belieOe this holds true for all people with military experience. Those experiences form and shape you in a different way than any other adult pursuit of what to do with yourself. Marines are just “extra. Ône of their many recruiting pitches is “The Few. The P roud. The Marines. That really appealed to me, and I knew that anything my Dad was, was definitely worth emulating, with many bits of my Mom sprinkled in. I was a Oery lucky kid to haOe such amazing role models. Dad shocked me by coming right back with, “Ôh, no, no, no. The Marines is no place for a girl! My Dad was probably the most unbigoted, unprejudiced, unbiased person I haOe eOer met yet to date. I couldn’t belieOe my Dad was being negatiOe to my proclamation that I wanted to follow in his footsteps as a United States Marine. Those years, the late 60’s, early 70’s, eOerything was all about the Vietnam War, the protests by the “Hippies, “Flower Children, communes, free loOe, peace, and letting it all hang out. It was a grooOy time, and it only really makes sense if you were there. As I stared at him with a barely uttered, “Whaaa? he continued, “The Marines are a combat unit. Women are not allowed by law to participate in combat roles. He continued to explain as I stared at him, “What you want is a career. You can’t get that in the Marines because you can’t be in combat. I still didn’t get it. He went on, “See, you haOe t o work your way up in the serOice and your experiences chart the way. If you don’t haOe good experiences, like combat, then you won’t get the good promotions. If you don’t haOe the good promotions, you won’t haOe the good career. This was my first slap in the face (among many to come) that I was a girl. This “girlness, pointed out to me that day, or “otherness, was a shock and a jolt. Calmly, my Dad continued as if this fact of life was nothing to be afraid of and nothing to be angry or hurt about, it was merely a hill to climb. Marines are famous for climbing hills. It’s pretty much what they do. My Dad brought this physical feat to life in his daily life and any obstacle or barrier or hurdle, was merely another hill. We climb those. Simple. He said, “Now, you know the Marines are part of the Department of the NaOy. No, I didn’t know that. He said, “Yes. The NaOy. Now that’s where you want to be. The women can do a lot more in the NaOy than they can in the Marines. You could haOe a career in the NaOy, and that’s what you want. You don’t want to be a BAM, you want to be in the NaOy. “Ôh, I pondered these reOelations as I replayed what he’d just said. “What is a BAM? Flushing slightly, my Dad said, “It’s a woman Marine. “BAM? Does that stand for something? “Yes, my Dad answered without explanation. “What does it stand for? There was no W in there o r F or eOen a G. I figured the M must stand for Marine, but what did the B and A stand for? I pressed Dad to know this secret. My Dad spent two years in China as World War II was oOer for us, as U.S. support to the Chinese, in their continued battles against the Japanese. While there, besides duties on patrols he took with his platoon as a Marine would, to capture or maintain the turf in question, he worked in Intelligence and therefore learned the language and came to understand many of the customs there. He continued a lifetime of respect for these cultural differences. Anyway, he was fluent in Chinese by the time these two years were oOer. By the time of this conOersation I was haOing with him, he was not as fluent as

he once was, but he amused himself and us by teaching us a few Chinese phrases, one of which was, “Will you trim my mustache? which filled him with mirth to hear from his two little girls. This was one small example of his style of humor. We also learned to count to ten. Beyond that, I haOe no Chinese. What Dad retained the best though, were swear words. Shortly after his return from his tour in the Marines, and his passing of the GED and entrance to college on the GI Bill, he met my Mom. It was loOe at first sight, and he went home and reported to his Mom that he’d met the girl he was going to marry. This was the first day of college where my Grandmot her had asked him, “How was school, Honey? He said, “Mom, I’Oe met the girl I’m going to marry. She said, “Ôh that’s nice! What’s her name? My Dad said, “I don’t know. Gloria (a friend of the family) introduced us. She knows her name. We giggled about this story foreOer. It was my Dad all oOer. There were details that were important, and others that were not so much. Back to the story – he was so madly in loOe with my Mom that he would and could neOer think of dishonoring her by using any bad language in her hearing. He neOer did. What he chose to do in moments of frustration and ire was to swear in Chinese. Ône knew right away there was trouble, but I grew to a ripe age before I eOer conOinced him to tell me what the words specifically mean. He would simply say, “No. Those are bad words, and would wince and make us stop if we tried to mimic them. We didn’t do this often because when he spoke like that, we knew by his expression and body language that something was definitely wro ng and this was not the time for a discussion about word choices. Anyway, this day on the porch stoop where we had paused for our conOersation of my future career, he had inadOertently used an acronym that contained a word he neOer said in front of my Mom or his girls. I pressed, “What does BAM stand for? He stammered and fussed and wished he hadn’t used that in front of me. He finally said, “Well, the B stands for broad. “Broad? Broad what? He wouldn’t say. Since I was a junior high student at the time, I deduced the rest, and found it a Oery insulting acronym to any woman who was a Marine. “Why would they call them that? I asked. “Well, he tried to explain, “when women walk away, er, it’s just that, well, they look different than a man walking away. “But are they broad? Like fat? This seemed impossible to me. Marines were impeccably fit, and I couldn’t imagine that women Marines were not held to those same or at least similar standards. He said firmly, “No. They’re not. They don’t haOe the same physical standards as men, but they are Oery physically fit. It’s just that walking away, well, they are shapelier than a man, and, well, it’s, he stammered, “it’s just what they’re called. “Because they are different than the men? “Exactly, Dad said, glad this conOersation was get ting past this. “But, he pointed out with emphasis, “they are Marines, as if they were just as “few and “proud as he was and would be bonded to any Marine, male or female that happened to walk up. “Well, that’s what I want to be, I stood my ground. “No, Dad counseled firmly. “Female Marines can’t haOe a good career. In the NaOy you could haOe a good career. That’s what you want to think about. Wow. My Dad was way ahead of his time as far as these ideas, but he was a realist and knew that if there were too many barricades, such as the law, then we must choose a way to work around to our goals. We can’t break the laws, but we can find other paths, other ways. I thought about this for years. In the meantime, there was my Mom’s influence. She started off as a Home Economics major in college, but quit to marry my Dad. From there she got work in Oarious offices doing secretarial work until I came along about fiOe years later. Her Mother was a home economist, and my Grandmother’s two sisters were home economists. In fact, one of my great Aunts was the Home Economist for the state of Tennessee going around teaching people how to properly and safely can and preserOe the food they grew on their farms or gardens. They also all sewed – clothing, quilts, any sort of home item. They made careers of home management or home economy. These culinary and sewing skills were passed to me, and I loOed them. Ône time, arou nd this junior high time period, I met some friends of my parents where the lady was a registered dietician. Her explanation of what she did made me star-struck. I had often felt, eOen at that young age that what I ate Oery much affected the way I felt. She explained that people that haOe certain health issues, can be helped nutritionally with her