Beginnings

I was on my way out his door when I noticed the old library table sitting there in the darkness of an unused room, as if waiting for light to shine upon it. My love for old wooden furniture, especially oak, stopped me in my tracks, with a shared “WOW” to it’s owner, a former consumer of my agency’s services, now an employee and friend. We had carpooled to a meeting, I had just stopped in for a moment to assist him with some paperwork — that’s all, so I thought.

We became good friends at the office as we worked a lot as a team. I being the person to assign him to visit various individuals with disabilities who would benefit from his visits as someone who knew where they came from and serve as a mentor. It provided for opportunities fro friendly conversations, not related to our jobs. People, including myself, loved his humor and no nonsense outlook on their situation as well as his own dealing with the side effects of having recovered from a brain aneurysm a few years earlier. I saw his potential to help others and encouraged him to apply for the position.

Later that year, I met him at his home again upon his request to speak to me about some of the individuals he was working with — that was his guise. Since I was in the vicinity of his home, I thought nothing more. Upon entering his home, there sat 5 dozen roses(somewhere in our many conversations I had mentioned 5 was my favorite number) atop the library table. Another WOW

“Who is the lucky person??” I asked.

“You”, he answered. “The roses and table are yours, just wanted you to know you are appreciated”

This was not the first time my thought bubble included “holy shit! uh oh! and where and when did I cross the line ???” I thought we had settled what our relationship could and could not be long ago — I was wrong. It may have been settled for me, but as for him, far from being settled…………