In early 1989 I accepted a short assignment to start up a difficult earthwork project in San Francisco. I am still here: the short job turned out to be a long-term nightmare (but that is another story). And, I was captured by the beautiful Julie. Let me tell you how she managed that.
After a few weeks of scrapers, bulldozers, rough language and frayed tempers, I needed gentle companionship and responded to an alluring brochure from a dating service called something like Great Exasperations. Interviews and personality tests followed, which I passed with Honors; followed by me awarding Great Exhalations a large sum of money.
In November 1989 the only introduction Great Exhortations provided that I could not contact was Julie, who was never at home and did not have an answering machine. I later learned that she was very busy relocating the law office she managed which had been severely damaged by the Oct. 17th Loma Prieta earthquake. Persistent, I eventually talked to her about 6:00 one morning. Surprised, she agreed to meet me.
Parking my truck near her home, I marveled at the twinkling lights of San Francisco below, and wondered if I would be parking there again in the future. When Julie opened her door, I was thrilled. She was beautiful and cheerful. We spent a long time chatting – she poured me several cups of tea from the sole tea bag she had, so eager was I not to leave just yet. She seemed to have hints of many of the women I had loved and who had loved me, all rolled into one person. So my earlier loves must have been practice. When I was leaving, she agreed that we should meet again. I performed a jig of joy at her front door “She likes me! She likes me!” – and she was captivated too. I soon canceled my contract with Great Exultations.
Julie and I soon got on very well – so much so that she sent me back to Hawaii to sort out my relationship with my girlfriend there. The sort out resulted in my decision to move to San Francisco permanently. Not long afterward she asked me to marry her. Our intimate wedding in Julie’s sister’s backyard was officiated by a Judge from Louisiana wearing an eye-patch. Our honeymoon the following week coincided with my PhD Comprehensive qualifying exam, a 7 day take-home ordeal. So that week, Julie lived at her house and I lived at mine. We have rarely been apart for that long since…
