Ken’s Love Story
Jean was my landlord. I met her as I went to pick up the keys to my new apartment. I was moving in downstairs from her. We met each other and there was a little bit of a spark. I moved in and we were talking about this that and the other. She had three children. Danica, the daughter and the oldest, as well as the twin boys, Daniel and Jonathon. Great little kids.
 
There was a lot of innuendo that went on here and there. Finally, she came out and said, "Before anything ever happens, I want to tell you something."
 
I said, "Well, what is that?"
 
She says, "Well, I’m HIV positive"
 
"Okay"
 
"It means I have AIDS"
 
"All right, go ahead"
 
"You don’t grasp the gravity of the situation."
 
"Yes I do grasp the gravity of the situation. Basically, it doesn’t bother me." At that point I had gone through a lot of life and death and this and that and the other. My mother had terminal cancer for six years and I’d seen a lot of friends go, and I was losing my mother and it was a long drawn out process. So, I had come to know death pretty well at that time.
 
I said , "I have very strong feelings for you and I’m not going to throw this away. Even if I only have a year or five years, it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all." We were sitting at the table, holding hands. And then we kissed. It was the most electrifying experience I’ve ever had. There aren’t really words to describe what it felt like. Like your first kiss. Your first bite of ice cream when you’re a kid. Your first jelly bean. Your first tickle fest with an uncle. I hope I never lose that. I still have that now.
 
It was one of those things I just knew it was meant to be. I just knew it. We both knew it. We both wanted to take things slowly, but it didn’t progress that way. It was like a snowball. Like a love snowball it was just rolling down the hill and as it rolled we were just swept up into it. It was liked being wrapped up into positive emotion it was like being wrapped up in love. It was the most natural progression was for me to move out and into her place.
 
Her positive attitude gets me through every single day.
 
Every day could be my last. I live for every moment. With Jean, she’s taught me to live life to it’s fullest. That every day could be your last. You have to spend time with your children and your loved ones. I try to spend more time at home than I do at work. I am not a workaholic. I have too much in my life with my children and with my family and with my homelife. Any moment I miss with them is not a moment I’m going to be able to make up. I could make better money than I make now, I could do this, I could do that, and the other. That’s all fine and dandy. But money I can make up, time I can’t. Jean’s condition has made me live life more to it’s fullest.
 
Our son, Roland, was born with his mother’s antibodies. While most children (with proper medication) revert after 2 years, that was a scary thing. And then he got sick. It turned out only to be a stomach flu. But he got so thin, and we thought the worst. I have nightmares still about that. About losing my son, and losing Jean.
 
This hasn’t been a curse. I think it’s been a blessing. Jean feels the same way. It just opens your eyes. You see how may things that are out there and how many things that are petty. That used to bother you that were really, really petty. You know driving down the road, somebody cuts you off, yada yada yada, give them the finger. No, time is too short for that. "Hey, okay go ahead. I’ll take my time. I’ll move over here into the slow lane."
 
The main thing people should know is these people have a lot to give. Even more so. These people have a lot more love to give because they know they can only give that love for a short period of time. So they’re going to give it to their best. They’re going to give it to their fullest. From my personal experience, it’s a showing of love that you can’t afford to miss. I’ve got Jean, Roland, Danica, Daniel, and Jonathon. I’ve got a positive attitude about life that I never had before by looking death in the face. It’s a contradiction in terms, I think, but that’s the payoff. I’ve got a positive attitude, me , about life.
 

 

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