We landed and waited our turn to deplane. Patrick called his mom and sister to let them know we arrived. By the time we made it to the airport’s curb, Lindsey was there. Lindsey got out of her car and popped open the trunk. She was everything I hoped to be: bright, independent, self-assured, and easy-going. You could tell just by looking at her.
“Hi, Lindsey.” Patrick gave his sister a hug. He turned to me, “Lindsey, I’d like you to meet Liz. Liz, this is my sister Lindsey.” He handed her the oversized shopping bag. “This is from Mom.”
I was about to shake her hand, but somehow that didn’t feel right. I felt like I knew her. She leaned in and gave me a hug. “Nice to finally meet you. My brothers have told me so much about you. Welcome to San Francisco!”
“Nice to meet you too. I’ve heard so many nice things about you.” We all climbed into the car. “Thanks so much for picking us up. I hope I didn’t cause too much trouble for you.”
“Oh, no! No trouble. Anytime I get to see Patrick is a treat. I love Stanford, but I do miss my family. If you guys get done early, let me know and maybe we could get dinner or something before you guys go. If not, that’s okay, I understand that this isn’t a vacation.” She smiled.
I got caught up listening to the CD that Lindsey was playing while she and Patrick chatted. She was playing one of my favorite musicals, Rent. I guess I was so busy trying to block out the impending reality of arriving to the courthouse that I was singing along. Not loudly. Then I noticed that they had stopped talking, and suddenly I became self-conscious.
I saw Lindsey look at me through the rear view mirror. “Hey, don’t stop. You have a beautiful voice. It took me a while to realize that it wasn’t the CD and it was you.”
“Thanks.” I felt all the blood rush to my face.
Patrick looked back at me and smiled. “Don’t be embarrassed. You do have a nice voice.” He turned back to his sister, “So, you’ll be the lawyering engineer and she’ll be the singing engineer.”
We all laughed. Lindsey teased, “Patrick, you will be an engineer that…”
“Works for you two ladies!” He laughed. “I wouldn’t mind that!”
“So, does that mean you’ve decided to go into electrical?” Lindsey asked.
“I’m thinking about it. There are a few other majors I’m looking into.” Patrick replied.
“Like?”
“Well, mechanical and computer engineering. I’m also thinking about robotics, nanophotonics, or biometrics.”
“Nice.” Lindsey seemed impressed. “What about you, Liz? Any idea what you want to major in?”
“To be honest, aside from it being in engineering, I’m not too sure. If I had to pick right now, I’d probably lean more toward computer, electrical or mechanical engineering. I really like my computer science and physics classes.”
“Well, let me know if you want me to introduce you to any of the women in engineering organizations out there. I belong to a couple of them. They are great for networking.” She looked up into her rear-view mirror to see me again.