Cindy's Education

I met Cindy Albee during the second semester of our junior year at Florida State. Cindy was pursuing a double degree - one in education and one in business administration. I was pursuing a degree in Engineering. I wanted to be able to show my parents my diploma with my name, Todd Anderson, on it. I would be the first one in my family to ever graduate from college.

Cindy's dream was to be a schoolteacher and eventually transition into the administrative section of education. She explained to me that she had chosen education because her parents had both been teachers and then school principals. Over the years, many of their former students had told Cindy how much they loved her parents, so she wanted to follow in their footsteps. The philosophy that her parents instilled in her from a very early age was that people should strive to learn something new every day.

I totally agreed with her parents' sentiment about education because it wasn't too dissimilar from what my parents taught me. My parents owned a small farm and had six kids. My mom and dad were always looking for ways to save a dollar. My dad drilled into me that it was better to learn how to fix a problem rather than to pay someone else to do it. Now, I am in college, not only learning as much as I can from my teachers but also figuring out ways to pay my way. Obviously, my parents didn't have any money to pay for my college education. I was pursuing a degree in engineering because I was a wiz with math and science, and it just seemed the natural way to go.

To help pay my way, I had landed a job with a tutoring service in town and worked about twenty hours a week. I still had to take out student loans, but the job kept those to a minimum. I had visions of designing beautiful buildings. Ultimately, I would discard that dream and adopt a new one. But that comes later in the story.

I first met Cindy when we had been thrown together in a group project for a political science class. However, I noticed her the first day of class but didn't dare to believe that she would ever be interested in anyone like me. She was beautiful - five foot six, a Rubenesque figure, and long blond hair. She also had a way about her that made you want to please her. All the athletes and "super cool" guys flocked around her. Cindy dated many of them but never seemed serious about anyone.

About halfway through the semester our political science professor informed us that he was breaking the class up into five groups of six to work on a special project. I was initially unhappy. I had worked on group projects in high school, and it always seemed there were one or two of our group who didn't do any work. Yet, when Cindy was assigned to my group, my feelings changed one hundred and eighty degrees.

"Hi, I'm Cindy Brandon," she said to me as she stuck out her hand.

"I'm, I'm, umm, Todd Anderson," I stammered.

"You don't sound very sure of that," Cindy laughed.

I didn't want to look like a complete dork, so I quickly pulled out my wallet and looked at my driver's license. "No, no," I chuckled, "I'm definitely Todd Anderson." Then I showed her my license. She laughed aloud and that began our relationship.

Our assignment in this political science class was to take a famous Supreme Court case, which was assigned by the professor, and dissect it. We not only had to explain what the case was about but also explain the decision, discuss whether it had been a good one, and defend that belief.

We were assigned Marbury vs. Madison, which was the first major case that the Supreme Court ruled on, and it had far-lasting results. The ruling had self-limited the powers of the Supreme Court so that they couldn't become more powerful than the administrative or the legislative branches of the government. That decision made the Supreme Court what it is today.

As it turned out, the other four members of our group were a bunch of slugs. Three were members of the football team, and the fourth dropped out of school just before the end of the semester. Cindy and I had to research and write the entire report. I should have been annoyed that the other members of our group had bailed on us, but I was thrilled because I got to spend a lot of time with Cindy.

We got along so well that we started dating and then became exclusive. I hadn't dated a lot when I was in high school or college, as I never had much money. But that didn't matter to Cindy. She was happy to sit and watch TV with me or go for a walk. Going on a picnic or to the museum was a big date for us. I fell hopelessly in love with Cindy, and she seemed equally smitten with me. We were married right after graduation.

Life was mostly great for the first five years of our marriage. The sex was great; our new house was small, but it was everything we wanted. Since our house was in a new development, we soon had lots of friends, and our social life was a lot of fun. Cindy got a job as an eighth-grade teacher in a middle school in northern Palm Beach County. I accepted a job with one of the larger engineering firms in South Florida. However, as the years passed, I discovered that I really didn't like engineering.

As the junior engineer in the firm, I got all the crappy assignments. So, to distract myself from the boredom at work, I signed up to get my master's degree. I was sure that once I had my master's, my pay would increase, and I'd be assigned to more interesting projects. However, all I got was a $500 bonus. I was disappointed, but I said to myself, "fuck them," I was going to continue and get a PhD.

Aside from my job being boring, I couldn't complain too much. Cindy's job was going great, and we were very much in love. Financially, we were doing well, and we talked about having a baby. But as the saying goes, "All good things must end."

The first bit of unwelcome news was when my boss informed me that I was being transferred from design to inspections. What little design work I had been doing was boring enough, but inspections were even worse.

The second piece of news, that, at the time, I thought was good news was that Cindy was moving to a new school, West Jupiter High School, to head up the guidance department. This promotion would later turn out to be a disaster.

The third hammer to drop on my life was the appointment of Brock Turner as the principal at Cindy's school. He was a black former NFL player. Brock had played for five seasons with three different teams. Dallas drafted him in the third round as an inside linebacker but traded him after two seasons, which was strange because he had two good seasons with Dallas. In Seattle, Brock again only lasted two years despite playing well. Then he was traded to Philadelphia, where he had another good season, but his ankle was shattered in a playoff game. Philadelphia released him, and because of the severity of his injury, his career was over.

When Brock realized his football career was over, he tried his hand at television because he was a tremendously charismatic individual. Unfortunately, that charisma didn't translate to the small screen. For whatever reason, his charisma came across as arrogance on television. He was quickly and quietly let go. Then he took a job with a regional bank as a customer service officer. The bank was thrilled with him, but after about nine months, Brock quit. He hated being stuck in an office, so he looked for something new to do. He finally took a job as a gym teacher and football coach for a suburban Philadelphia high school. Brock stayed for three years and moved from being a gym teacher to Assistant Principal and head coach of the football team. But the football team only did so, so. For the three years Brock coached, they had a winning record but never advanced in the postseason.

When the principal at Cindy's school retired, Brock applied and was given the job. For the first year, I talked more about Brock than Cindy did. I mean, he was a former NFL player. I was in awe of him until I finally met him in person. I found him to be a self-centered narcissist.

On the other hand, his wife, April, was charming, intelligent, and somewhat shy. She was also gorgeous. April reminded me of a smaller but much prettier version of Whitney Houston. I couldn't understand what she saw in Brock. Still, most of the school staff were enthralled by him, including my wife.

I tried to subtly tell my wife that her boss was basically a "pussy hound." Cindy just laughed and teased me that I was jealous.

I decided to be honest. "Yes, I am a little jealous. He's bigger than me, and fitter than me, and was a professional football player."

Cindy hugged me and told me, "You don't ever have to be jealous. He's only a couple of inches taller than you, and when it comes to fitness, you're no slouch. So, what if he was a football player, I married you." She had mollified me, and our lives went on.

Despite my discomfort being around Brock, my wife insisted on dragging me to every school function, where we always seemed to wind up sitting with Principal Turner and his wife, April. I was able to talk to her occasionally at these events, and I learned that Brock and April had been married for three years and had a little girl, Tiffany.

It was at one of these events that I learned what a true asshole Brock Turner was. If Cindy thought I was jealous, I wouldn't have held a candle to Brock when it came to April. The incident happened at the school district's Christmas party. Brock had just asked my wife to dance without asking me. I found that disrespectful, and I was a little annoyed that Cindy didn't even look to see if I was okay with that. I watched for a bit, and Brock was holding my wife at a respectful distance. I slid over next to April so I could talk with her. Brock and Cindy stayed on the floor for three straight dances, but I didn't notice because I was having a wonderful conversation with April. I learned that she was a part-time professor at the local community college that had just recently been upgraded to a four-year college. She taught French and German. Her mother's parent had emigrated from the Congo to France, and her father was German. Shortly before April was born, her parents emigrated to the United States.

Since the college only recently upgraded to a four-year college, they were in the process of filling out their teaching positions. April was hoping that her part-time position would lead to a full-time position as an associate professor. As our conversation continued, she showed me pictures of their daughter, who looked like a miniature version of April. I laughed as April told me one story after another of many cute things that Tiffany had done.

When the third song ended, Brock and my wife returned to the table. Brock was not happy to see me talking to his wife.

"You're in my seat," he growled at me.

I was stunned by his attitude but apologized and got up. Then I asked if I could get another drink for anyone. April smiled and asked for another glass of chardonnay. My wife asked for a Coke. As I was headed back to the table, Brock grabbed my arm and took the glass of wine out of my hand. Then he growled, "Stay away from my wife, or I'll knock you on your ass."

"What is your fucking problem, man," I asked, stunned by his attitude.

"Just stay the fuck away from my wife," he said over his shoulder. Within minutes of that incident, Brock announced that he and April were leaving. His announcement was sudden and surprising. And the glare that my wife gave me was also a shock. On our way home, Cindy launched into me. "What did you do to upset Brock?"

"I didn't do a fucking thing," I fired back.

"You must have done something because he was really upset with you," Cindy pressed.

"He threatened to knock me on my ass if I didn't stay away from his wife. I was just being polite and keeping her company while you guys were off dancing without even asking me if it was okay."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cindy challenged.

"Fuck it, this discussion is over," I said through gritted teeth. "I don't want to hear another word about Brock "fucking" Turner."

After the Christmas party, my uneasiness about Brock had turned to total dislike. Still, I didn't want to rock the boat because he was Cindy's boss. Fortunately, after the Christmas incident, Cindy barely ever mentioned Brock.

About three months into the New Year, the economy took a nosedive. The commercial and residential real estate markets suffered especially. At first, it didn't affect the company I worked for, as we had a backlog of work. However, as the weeks passed, everyone began to get nervous, as no new business was coming in, so I just kept my head down and worked away. But I knew if the economy didn't pick up, the company would eventually start laying people off.

One day, Cindy came home all excited because she had been appointed to organize a career assembly at school. I couldn't understand why she was so excited about this because the only thing that would interest the students was that they were getting out of class for two or three periods. But Cindy was thrilled to have been picked to organize the event, so I gave her my full support. If I had known that she was so thrilled because Brock had chosen her, I wouldn't have lifted a finger. But as it turned out, it was a good thing I had helped.

She had already arranged to have an accountant, a lawyer, a nurse, a computer programmer, and several other occupations give presentations. Cindy wanted to know if I could get an engineer from the firm where I worked to give a short talk. I asked my boss the next day, and he passed it up the chain. What came back was that if I wanted to take a personal day, I could go. Since it was to help my wife, I agreed.

The school assembly was supposed to last two hours with twelve different professionals being given ten minutes to talk about their chosen field. However, when Career Day came, four of the "professionals" either canceled or didn't bother to show up. Cindy was frantic and on the verge of tears. I told her not to worry because I would fill in for the accountant, the lawyer, the auto mechanic, and the doctor.

When it was my turn, I kissed Cindy and told her not to worry. As I climbed up the stairs to the stage, I could see a bunch of high schoolers bored to tears. The only reason they hadn't walked out by this point was that they'd have to go back to class.

As my slides were being loaded into the audio/visual equipment, I started my talk. "Good afternoon; I'd like everyone who is asleep to raise their hands." Of course, almost every hand went up and the assembled students laughed. I knew I had their attention. "I hope what I'm going to share with you is interesting. And if it isn't, at least my talk will keep you out of class for another period or two." A cheer went up from the students.

Taking a big breath, I began. "I'm an engineer, but I'm going to be talking about four or five different professions. Also, I'm going to give you some sure fired advice on how to be successful in anything you face, including getting through high school with as little stress as possible." On hearing that, quite a few of the students laughed, but they did sit up straighter. I was really getting into this.

I started by telling them an engineer joke. "You all probably think engineers are just a bunch of nerds, but that isn't the case. Let me tell you a story about how truly practical engineers are."

Then, I proceeded to tell my story. "One afternoon, an engineering student was riding across campus on a shiny new bike. He ran into a friend, also an engineer, who said, 'Wow! That sure is a great bike. Where did you get it?' 'Well, the darndest thing happened,' the first engineering student said, 'A girl came riding up to me and got off the bike, threw off all her clothes, and said I could have anything I wanted.' 'Wow,' the other engineering student remarked. 'That's great. Excellent choice. Her clothes probably wouldn't have fit you anyway."

Then I added, "Like I said, engineers are very practical." That brought a roar of laughter.

Then, I shifted to a slide presentation, showing all kinds of different buildings and structures. I showed a carpet museum where the roof looked like a rolled-up carpet. Another building was called the crooked house that seemed to be leaning in several different directions at once. Another building looked like an enormous picnic basket. I ended the slides with a nine-story nondescript building and asked if anyone could guess what was unique about this building. After five or six answers shouted out, I finally said, "You guys will never guess it. What you're looking at is Europe's largest bordello. It's nine stories tall and located in Germany if you're interested." This brought cheers from the boys and "eww" from the girls.

My talk then bounced from one profession to another, explaining what the average salary was as well as the education needed to enter each profession. I sprinkled the talk with more jokes, and advice on how to study and how to take tests. Then I passed along my long-held belief that if you wanted to be successful in anything, you had to constantly strive to do better than your best. I explained that it sounded counterintuitive, but the truth was that if you didn't try to do better than your best, how would you ever get better? I also told the students there was no such thing as a dumb question and that it was never dumb to ask for help. It was only dumb people who didn't ask questions or ask for help.

I talked for a bit about those who didn't want to go to college but preferred to work in the trades. I explained that if they were interested in going in that direction, to go for it. They would probably make more money than the majority of people who graduated from college.

I was having a ball and didn't realize I had gone over my allotted time until Cindy gave me the frantic wrap-it-up sign. After nodding to my wife, I wrapped up my speech with one final piece of advice. "As you go through life, every one of you will eventually have to give a public speech. It is one of the biggest fears that people have. In some surveys, a fear of speaking ranks higher than dying. Yet, the time will come for most all of you when you are going to have to give a public speech. When that time comes just remember to stand up tall when you get up to give your speech, so that everyone can see you. Speak out firmly so that everyone can hear you. Then, make your speech as short as possible and sit down quickly so everyone will appreciate you. Thank you. You guys have been great."

I got a standing ovation, a kiss from my wife, and my hand pumped by Brock. But that wasn't the end of it. Unbeknownst to me, three principals from other high schools were in attendance, and they made a beeline to ask me to speak at their schools. I explained that I had to take a personal day to do the talk, and I did it to help my wife. Cindy, however, finally convinced me to take the time, and to do my speech at the three other high schools.

All three of those speeches went very, very well. In fact, at the end of my last engagement at a high school in a poorer section, the principal told me he wished he had me as a teacher. I was riding high in those days, but as I would discover, the good times were over, and bad things were coming my way.

One Monday morning, I was called into my boss's office and told that I was being laid off. The severance package was fair; I was given three months' pay that included paying for my health insurance.

When I got home and explained that I had been laid off, the first thing Cindy said was, "Oh great, how are we going to pay the mortgage now?"

I just looked at her and said, "Thanks for the support." Then I grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator and headed to our den. Cindy and I used it as an office. I fired up the computer and began looking for a new job. After a few minutes, Cindy came in very timidly and said she was sorry. She was just frightened that we might lose our house.