In sickness and in health....

The above title takes on a whole new meaning for someone like me.  Someone who received their transplant young and is searching for their Mr. (or Mrs.) Right. 

During the first couple of years post transplant, I wasn't interested in boys.  Shocker, I know, but those drugs caused me to be hormonally turned off at first.  Besides, high school wasn't a fun time for me anyway and I was always behind compared to my peers.  College?  I went to a community college so I just went to class, came home, and that was it. 

It wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I realized,  "Holy crap!  Everyone I know is getting married!  When did this happen?!" and felt like I needed to catch up with them in the game of "life."

I'm now nearly 31 years old (in just a little over 12 hours it'll be official) and I'm still looking for my Mr. Right.  I've tried various dating websites (eharmony, christiancafe, match, catholic.com, etc.) with slim success.  Soon after a few online messages (either via my big mouth or their own searching on me) said guy finds out about my transplant and then woosh!.....I never hear from him again.

Since 2002, I've been involved with the U.S. Transplant Games and made some incredible friends along the way.  Up until that point, I thought it was just me who was having trouble finding a guy.  Nope!  Turns out, there are a lot of female recipients (and males too, I'm sure but it's only the girls I've talked to about this) who are also getting discouraged.  Either they're like me (still at the starting gate) or they start dating someone and said person breaks up with them and usually, it's because they can't the medical baggage that we recipients come with.  It was such a relief when I learned I wasn't the only one going through this. 

During this past summer's U.S. Transplant Games, I was sitting and talking with my team's (Team Florida) assistant manager, Denise, and she was talking about how her relationship with her husband changed during her transplant.  Alex went from being her lover and protector to being her nurse, care taker, etc.  She said that it was hard for her to see him enter these new roles but he handled it like a pro and stood by her side....in sickness and in health.

I know that the saying goes Good things come to those who wait but.....could you please speed it up God?