I woke from a dream about the weather at 4:15 AM. I felt a little stoned and disoriented as I hit the bathroom and then walked into the kitchen for a water. Then I jumped a mile when I felt a hand take the water out of my own as I leaned against the kitchen counter next to the refrigerator and sink staring off into space.
“Ssshhh,” she whispered as she set my water down on the counter. “It’s only me,” she continued as she gently wrapped her arms around me and stood there leaning against me. Then after a moment she kissed me and said, “You were standing there for a good twenty minutes without moving. Are you ok?”
“Just turning things over in my mind,” I replied softly. She reached over with one arm and picked up my water again asking, “Done with this?”
When I nodded, she stepped away from me and put the water back in the refrigerator where I’d be able to locate it again later before wordlessly taking my hands and guiding me into the guest bedroom. “Am I being evicted?” I asked her. All I got in response was, “Ssshhh,” accompanied by a light kiss.
She must have already been in there before coming into the kitchen to collect me because the bed was turned down with silk sheets on it and I could smell scented candles and incense burning. “Julia?” I began uncertainly.
“Ssshhh,” and another kiss was all I got in reply. “Um… I should probably go brush my teeth,” I began to say. But she gently cut me off with yet another kiss as she pushed me onto the bed laughing softly and said, “You’re sweet. But you’re fine as you are. Honest.”
From that moment on it was all her. I just didn’t want to get out of bed after that.
But we both did have work to do, her meeting with a few clients virtually from her study and me getting a server configured for a new project I was working on. So, after I helped her pick up the guest room, we showered together, slipped out to Dunkin for a quick breakfast and then headed back to the home-based offices to get down to business.
At around 4:00 PM the thunderstorms came rolling through, which was fine. We were both done with our work by then and sat on the front porch together, intertwined in a chair enjoying each other and the storm around us.
“What an awesome way to unwind from work,” Julia commented. And… It certainly was true.
She then asked, “Did you find the information you were looking for on how to use power point to make that header you wanted for your website?” I nodded. “What’s the story with the new card from the bank?” I simply smiled and she giggled.
“And I’m guessing you have the JPG header created and the card activated, right?” Julia said with a laugh. I nodded and she kissed me long and deep. When she came up for air, she gave me a squeeze saying, “That’s my boy.”
She’s never taken offense to me doing things on my own. She knows if I need help with something I’ll ask for it. But she’s never tried to jam help down my throat.
That’s not to say I haven’t needed to ask for help with something now and then. But it doesn’t go to her head the way it would with a lot of people because, as she herself knows, everyone needs help with something, and visual acuity has very little to do with any of it. “She knows she’s not my caretaker.”
On top of that, Julia admires my creativity and has commented on many occasions, as I come up with work arounds to things that would best be done with eyesight, “I know that would be easier to do with sight. But… The way you just accomplished that? Um… Yeah… That is clever.”
Most people can’t seem to grasp the concept of working differently to achieve the same goal. Most folks are like one trick ponies. For even my own parents, most of the time the traditional way is the only way, and they just can’t seem to manage to grasp the concept of their being more than one right way to do things.
But Julia? “She gets it!”