My current was pure business at first...and she actually knew who I was before because we went to the same fitness center and took a kickboxing class together, and though I tried to hide my sexuality there (too many hardcore FOX conservatives) she figured it out through subtle clues (makes me wonder how many more knew...though I know many never suspected, too).
Short & sweet, I'd broken up and needed more money so when the Hannah movie came out I put up fliers and spread word of mouth through the neighborhood (she lived a few blocks from me) and she, who loathes Disney, was one of many to pay me to take her then 11-year-old daughter (repeatedly). Her daughter liked me and said I had a cool, calm head that somehow kept things orderly without being mean about it (referring to my taking carload, or even 2-3 cars a couple of times, with her to the movie at the same time, most tween but some as young as 5).
In the last days of the movie swine flu broke out (major headlines at the time) and I had to take a couple of days or so to recover from it myself (though it wasn't bad for me) which ended my movie babysitting gig. The 11-year-old and her little brother got it about the same time I did and were much sicker. And then just as they started to recover their mom caught it and became helpless from it. After a couple of days the little girl got scared but her mom told her NOT to call 911, she'd get over it, so she then called others but everyone said to call 911. While going through her mom's phone she found my number, remembered me, and called.
I found myself mostly confused by that call but I understood enough that her mom was sick and they were running out of food so I took dvds for the kids (as I used to do a lot of babysitting and actually became fans of shows like Kim Possible, plus a few others kids were sure to like) and took care of things. Her mom said she couldn't pay me but I said the only thing I asked was if I got as sick as she was then she had to take care of me.
The girl's 12th birthday was coming up and her mom was weak (and lost over 20 pounds/10kg!) so I did it, even spent some of my own money (as that movie gig was far more profitable than I'd expected--LOTS of parents were willing to pay REPEATEDLY to NOT see the movie with their daughters!) to make her a Hannah-theme party. And her little brother had a birthday coming up next month and asked for a Transformers theme one and so I arranged for that, too (I've been a birthday entertainer for girls for many years by then, btw). And during that time I went with them to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, got into a really good talk after, saw The Alamo and that's when the mom surprised me by coming onto me, and I went along but figured it was a brief fling at best.
And yet it wasn't, circumstances threw us together and I ended up getting evicted by a crooked landlord so I pretty much had to take her up on her offer to move in, though not certain how it would work out I didn't get my name on the lease (which turned out to be a boon, had the landlady/secretary known we were a couple she'd have barred us), so we moved in together on Halloween of 2009 (having gotten to know each other over about 4 months). By Christmas we'd all bonded and furthermore she had me read the book of an Ancient Greek to discuss and she said after hearing me talk so intelligently that she knew I was a keeper and we've been close ever since.
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