The Duplicate Group Goes to Woodside

 

The Duplicate Group Goes to Woodside.

This is Henry – my person insists on continuing to write nostalgic and rather boring blogs. I’m hoping this will be the last one going back to the 60’s!

To continue with last week’s blog where I had described the group as young couples on their way up. They were all single income families, thanks to the husbands earning enough money to singly provide comfortable homes, 2 cars, and modest vacations. A diligent, earnest and hardworking group, however one among them had a little more drive, a little more creativity, and a little more vision.

Bob L. started his own company – computers, what else? To show the world or a least his friends the extant of his success, he ditched the four bedroom tract house in Sunnyvale – the all-American city and bought a 9,000 square foot mansion on 6 flat acres in Woodside, which, by no stretch is an all- American city. It is the epitome of wealth and old money.

So…………. the duplicate group goes to Woodside for our dinner – bridge night. Before the dinner we were given a tour of the grounds and the out buildings, guest houses, barns, etc. Then the tour of the house. The women were all animated in their enthusiasm, obviously impressed, and the men were quieter and quieter and looking smaller in stature than before. Feeling like losers, I’m sure, and dreading the conversations with their wives on the way home.

My husband, the attorney isn’t intimidated – he does the intimidating! Upon entering the dining room for dinner, he observes and confidently announces that we’ll be dining in a mini Hearst’s Castle! The hostess Dottie, attractive in an eastern boarding school kind of way, happily responds, “So interesting that you mentioned that – yes, we have the original plans, which were drawn by Julia Morgan.” I think he shrunk just a little, joining the other husbands in their feelings of inadequacy.

Now for a really old, tasteless, lawyer joke:

There is some talk that medical labs are using lawyers instead of rats for their research. There are more lawyers than rats, the lawyers do things that the rats won’t do and the staff doesn’t cry when they die.

Henry’s critique – good grief, this has to improve!