One simple fact that makes them players in a theatre they didn’t sign up for.

They are now pioneers. Members of a generation working against stereotypes and stigmas, facing questions and public scrutiny, and telling a story they are forced to tell to educate, to pacify, to explain. To help others grow, and the world to evolve.

Meanwhile, they are everyday. They are nerds who send each other emails and texts when they are in the same room. They are a married couple who fight about winter, and long for the warm California sun. They are the proud owners of three cats, and a three legged dog. They are two kids in love.

Their story began with some pictures.

Each of them had a tale to tell before they met, but their meeting, and those pictures spun a whole new yarn.

There was a divorcee, working as a manager of a network security team, who doubled as a social justice advocate/writer.

And there was a post doctorate student, reading her writing online, and building a desire for a meeting as she fell in love with the words and the mind behind them.

“I could see into her soul,” Melody remembers. “I knew almost right away.”

On the walls of the manager’s office was some unique artwork. Pictures and portraits of various fairies: colourful, bright, and passionate, it was artwork the student wanted to see more of. It was an icebreaker, and an excuse to have a conversation.

“I must have tried five or six times,” the student remembers.

“Five or six times,” the manager laughs. “At least.”

At the time, the student was known as Nicholas, but the Melody inside the misplaced shell had always known the truth. And upon their meeting (or the manager relenting and accepting a date) everything was known – it’s part of what makes them whole today. They’ve never questioned their existence as individuals or a couple, they knew right away they were a pair, whether the parts matched what society wanted or not.

“I knew right away, and there was no doubt, no awkwardness,” the manager said. “There was a beautiful girl in my office, and I was in love. I have been everyday since.”

The grad student had always been Melody, Nicolas a product of what society intended.

“I’ve identified as a girl as long as I can remember,” the student said. “I’ve always known.”

She is labeled – transgender. And so, there are walls to get past.

Born in Mobile, Alabama, the student grew up understanding she was different, but always proud of who she was, inside and out. She remembers parts of her youth with fondness, and parts without. The same as everyone else.

The manager is a California girl. She’s lived across the globe, and educated herself in psychology, theology and music.

When they met, they spent the night together. Lost in what they had found, they experienced a whirlwind romance that saw them living together within weeks and culminated in a marriage just months after they’d met.

“I had to buy an engagement ring, and I wanted this beautiful pink sapphire set into the ring for her,” Sandi said. “The jeweler asked me if I realized it was pink, and I suddenly understood I was a woman, in a jewelry store, buying a band with a pink stone. I just went into a story about my husband being a famous member of a ballet.”

“I did take ballet…” Melody jokes.

In 2008, they moved to Canada, and in 2010, the couple settled permanently into a home in downtown Bolton. Melody found work in Toronto, and is now a tenured professor of Cognitive Developmental Psychology at York University.

Sandi, who used to edit an online knitting magazine with 350,000 subscribers, is finding her way in Canada, just a girl who followed her love.

In so many ways, they are so typical. So everyday.

But now, they must tell that story again. The play they are forced to act in. The generation of pioneers they are forced to be a part of.

They are out to their church, to their friends and family. Melody is completely out professionally, her university, her colleagues and her students know exactly who she is. But now, they are coming out to their community.

A letter sent to town council, local newspapers and the staff of the Caledon Centre for Recreation and Wellness has asked questions about washroom usage. Melody is a competition level swimmer, and since 2010, has spent six days a week training in the pool.

She identifies as a woman, and according to the Ontario Human Rights Code, that means she uses the woman’s washroom. Her biological parts don’t all match up to the ideal that created the plastic woman on the door with the triangle skirt. But she practices modesty, and keeps to herself.

Questions, those the couple expected, and so, the staff of the centre had been informed that conversation was ok. Melody doesn’t mind. She will talk to those who want to talk, she will listen to those who want to question.

“All I would say,” to a letter writer she admits she has never met. “Is come up and talk to me. I just want to have the conversation.”

They are a post-doc student and a manager who fell in love. They are the dorks who send each other electronic messages while holding hands. They are loving pet parents. A musician. A knitting aficionado.

And, they are unwilling pioneers who will begin to welcome their community to join their conversation, even though when they look in the mirror, they are still just those two kids in love, who wish they didn’t have a story to tell.

Because they are everyday, simply Sandi and Melody.

caledonenterprise.com