Having Melody work for me, turned out to be the best thing in the whole world. Without Melody, i never would have even dreamed of going on a date with anyone. Because of my developmental and physical delay, I didn’t get a period or have adult hormones in my body. This meant that I didn’t feel the same attraction to boys or men that most other people my chronological age felt. But I would never grow to fully be an adult, and Melody wanted to make sure I experienced every wonderful part of life.
Sometimes when Melody came to work she had to bring her two kids, Max and Jared. They didn’t have to come with her every time, but when they did I didn’t mind. Max was eight and Jared was ten. Melody would just sit them in the beanbag chairs in my living room.
“Don’t touch anything except the beanbag chairs and your Nintendo Switches,” she would tell them.
Her thirteen-year-old daughter Serena would tag along to keep an eye on them.
“Max and Jared have a lot of mental health issues. They both have bipolar, ADHD, an attachment disorder, PTSD, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder….”
One day Jeff and I were lying in my bed playing Mad Libs. When out of the blue Jeff told me that he wanted to convert to Judaism.
“You what?” I asked shocked.
“I want to convert to Judaism,” he repeated.
“That’s like a major life-changing project,” I told him stunned.
“Whatever it takes, I will go to any lengths in the world to be with you. Your family is so important to you, and I know that. You can’t hide from me the fact that they don’t want us to be together because I’m not Jewish. The last thing I want to do is screw up anything with your relationship with your family. I want to be part of your family,” he explained.
“Well, I guess the first step would be starting to go to synagogue with me,” I told him. In the happiest state of shock possible.
Every Saturday I used the tickets my mom bought me for the handicapped bus to go to and from the all-morning synagogue service for the Sabbath. Jeff could ride with me for free as my escort.
Believe it or not, Jeff the funny clown with the potty mouth started going to synagogue with me every week. He honestly wanted to convert to Judaism and was giving it his all.
Chronic illness is a vicious monster. Jeff and I knew this all too well. Jeff is the man I met at Side by Side Assisted Living., My home since age 24.. As soon as I h laid eyes on him I immediately felt a deep emotional and physical connection with him. Eventually, with some coaching from my caregiver Melody, I had asked him out. He was now my life partner.
But, while my health was going downhill fast, Jeff’s, at least, was on the upswing
I was closing in on my first year spent at Side by Side Assisted Living. I was also only 26 years old. As bad as that sounds, it was one of the best years of my life. From my very first tour there, I knew I was going to love it there. The assisted living ad rescued me. Before moving into assisted living I’d been at a nursing home. I suffer from a disease called autonomic small-fiber neuropathy. A disease that has stolen my childhood and adolescence from me.
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