(6/7) “We all go through honeymoon phases. May, May was...

(6/7) “We all go through honeymoon phases. May, May was terrific. But we’ve had our ups and downs since then. The first time we went out together, I got too intoxicated. It was a backyard BBQ. Benji was meeting my family for the first time. My whole family was there. And I tried to party like I used to, get up and dance. At first Benji was laughing. She’s like ‘look at my baby.’ But then I got too loud. Everyone was being loud, but I got super loud. And Benji asked me not to get another drink. I didn’t like that. I’m a grown man. I do what I wanna do. It got a little tense, cause I get sensitive about that. I want Benji to love me as a man. Not just as a human, but as a man. I want to provide. I want to take her out for once. Not her taking me out all the time, leading me by the hand. I know what people are saying: What can he do for you? What can he help you with? Will he be able to watch your children? There are times when Benji wants to talk about the future. Credit scores and stuff like that. She’ll say: ‘I’m in school for nursing, what are you going to do?’ And I’ll feel intimidated, real quick. I’ll feel like she’s gonna meet a doctor and leave me. But she knows that already. We talked all that out. Benji’s a great talker. In the beginning it was annoying. It was like, let me have some time. Let me have some space. But you can’t run from Benji. She doesn’t let up. One night she said: ‘Do you want me to pray for you?’ I thought she meant later that night, when she was going to sleep. But she was like: ‘No, right now. Do you want me to pray for you?’ Nobody had ever asked me that before. Maybe cause it’s the pandemic. But ever since I lost my eyes, nobody ever sat down and prayed with me. ‘I don’t know,’ I told her. ‘But I think I need it.’ We used to pray in church when I was little. But not like this. Benji came at it a little different. Or maybe I was just listening for the first time. It wasn’t magic or anything, but it felt real. This was from the heart. Benji was just talking. Talking to God. Talking to God about me. Talking to God for me. And I needed it. It wasn’t the first time I heard it, but this time I really heard it. Because I needed it.”