Seventeen: A Huntington's Disease Story


     It was 1977, nearing one of the most fun decades I would ever know. My girlfriend was 17 and she came to my house with the latest edition of Seventeen so that she could look at it page by page and ask if I liked this dress or those shoes. I honestly don't know if other boyfriends did that, or if girlfriends did that with their boyfriends.  You see, as a teenager, she was the only girlfriend I had.
     She however, being stunning to the eyes had many boyfriends and I knew about them. I encouraged her to have them because I was young. I was too young and I would be there with her as she got ready to go out with some boy who had a car. I was too young for that as well. I was never jealous. I just needed for her to not miss out on her teenage years, which for many are the best years.
     So why would a young attractive girl want to be with a nerdy but nice boy who couldn't take her for a ride in his shiny car?  I know why and I knew why then. I understood everything about her. I knew her secrets, those things that she wanted no one else to know and I never judged her for it. I knew all the people that wronged her and was disgusted by them.  I stood up for her no matter what was in front of me and yet I was so small. Even when we were married four years later we still could wear the same jeans. I don't know what happened to me after that because eventually I grew and became equal to twice her weight. I wasn't unhappy with that as she was such a great cook.
     But to get back on topic. She once said that I would outgrow her and that she would seem old to me. I understood what she was talking about because when you are a teenager even people in their twenties seem old but that was not going to be the case for me. I told her clearly..."You will always be 17 in my eyes." I meant it.
     The other night as her oxygen levels plummeted to 50 I whispered in her ear..."You will always be 17 in my eyes." Within five minutes her oxygen level was at 98 and she started to come around.
     So that's the reason she stayed.  I am her strength as much as she is mine.

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