Don't Hang Up. Hang On.

I teared up when he said: Take all the time you need.” Oh, the trials of speaking sometimes can get to me.

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I felt like a fully functioning human being yesterday. Friday was such a write-off after a tortuous night of cramps on Thursday night. Last night, I didn’t have a single cramp, and I slept deeply and wonderfully long. And yesterday morning, I felt happy and carefree, anticipating meeting Aidan and seeing what comes of our conversation.

I tidied up some more—it’s impossible to keep the Fir needles out of the house; they are everywhere—and then took Her Highness walking. She saw a young woman walking in the 707 park and went off to investigate her, completely ignoring my calls. She was growling, but her tail was wagging, and she had sticks in her mouth that she likes to carry when we walk.

I called out to the young woman to let her know that Sheba was safe, and she assured me she was okay with dogs. We wound up walking together and chatting and as we arrived at our cars, she asked me my name. Her’s is Nicky. I felt great because she wouldn’t have asked my name if she hadn’t enjoyed some aspect of our walk and talk together. And that made me feel wonderful.

And on the way home, in gentle rain, I noticed a Salal bush outside Sandy’s fence, and it struck me as beautiful. I’d seen it a million times, but yesterday I felt so, so good about life, it looked beautiful. Everything was making me feel good yesterday. Aren’t I lucky?

My biggest source of joy right now, however, is that my blitz of entertaining had me repaying everyone who regularly invites me to their homes for a meal, and now I can relax and put entertaining aside for quite a while. After today, I anticipate no visitors until Paula comes for Christmas. I’m seriously looking forward to her visit. 

When we got home from our walk, I made the salads and put them into the fridge for later. And then I put wood on the fire and got busy reading things on Aidan’s and STAMMA’s websites. At 10:30, I got a text from him saying that he’s likely catch the 11:15 ferry. That will have him arriving here just before noon. Ideal timing for lunch. I appreciated his giving me a heads up about his ETA.

While I waited, Dwight called and we chatted, and then Bruce called, fresh back from Croatia, and we had a lovely chat as well. As much as I have trouble with seizures and speech with my friends, how I love them! And as I was saying goodbye to Bruce, a text came from Aidan saying that he was on his way by road from the ferry.

When he arrived, I went outside to welcome him and as he came near, I opened my arms, and we hugged before saying a word. And it was a real hug. Then we began speaking and I realized that he doesn’t stutter. He loved the lunch I served. He’s a vegetarian, so I was glad that I save adding the seafood to my laksa. I served him the soup without prawns, and I had prawns in my serving. 

He arrived just before noon, and I drove him to catch the 18:15 ferry. We talked about stuttering advocacy for six hours non-stop. He valued my perspective on late-onset stuttering (LOS) and we will be working together to bring his organization up to speed on the issues facing LOS and he wants to get a support group going for LOSs like mine with STAMMA.

I have to say that I love Aidan. He’s such a committed, enthusiastic and brilliant young man. And thrilled and proud to be working with him and I know that he enjoyed our day together as much as I did. It was extraordinary how strong a bond has formed between us over stuttering. I do truly love him because he doesn’t stutter and yet he is determined to make is organization, SPACE, as effective and active as STAMMA.

And for fifteen years, he was an actor in NYC. An actor! Now you know why I feel love for him.  How could I not? I offered to help with fundraising too, and he liked some of my ideas—ideas that I used when I was fundraising for the Performing Arts Lodge (PAL Vancouver).

What a wonderful, inspiring day! And what a wonderful, inspiring young man Aidan is. It was the nicest, most emotionally moving day that I’ve lived in years. And now, the work begins.