OUR LOVE STORY

Our life together started out like any other. We worked hard, bought our first house and we traveled as much as our scheduled vacations would allow. We were happy(ish). We weren’t unhappy, but our life was definitely on auto-pilot. But that was all normal, right? We believed that our life was as good as it gets. 

Then the unimaginable happened. Rick was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and a year later, I started having mini strokes and after being in and out of the hospital for several years I was diagnosed with a small heart defect and a small brain tumor (benign). 

​

   On May 11th 2017, I broke my ankle, July 12th, I learned I had 3 blood clots in the right leg. A month later I ended up in a wheelchair after being diagnosed with CRPS, and on Dec. 5th I was told I had breast cancer after having my yearly mammogram.

I won't lie, I feel beat up, learning now I have breast cancer is scaring me too.

It's so strange how a single moment can change the world you use to know... 

Such events have the capacity to tear a relationship apart, but instead they brought us infinitely closer. While I clung desperately to Rick as the one good and stable thing in my life, his deeply compassionate side emerged in full force. And I never could have bounced off the bottom of that black hole if it wasn’t for him.  He never once complained when he repeatedly came home to me in pajamas, to a blubbering mess who felt worthless and unwilling to engage.

​

His love knows no bounds. He later supported my decision to quit the well-paying job due to my disability. The first few months were rough. We went from spending a couple of waking hours a day together to a round-the-clock relationship. Traditional roles were tossed and new ones were being tested. Rick literally had to take over caring for me and run our household – we struggled to make the lifestyle work.

We know when to get out of each other's way and when to help. We often know what the other is thinking. We have our own language that few others can follow closely. The only fault I see in being so in tune to each other is that some of our own independence is lost, completely out of our total devotion and yearning to always be together.

​

That is a “problem” I am all too happy to live with. I know I’ve got the goods. 

Twelve years down, forever to go. I can’t wait to see what we get up to next.