It's been quite some time since I've actually posted a new article. But here it is!
I lost my house that Dennis and I owned in May 2015, leaving me homeless for a time while I searched for a new place to live. In July of 2015, I saw an ad on Craigslist for a roommate to share an apartment. I sent an inquiry and about 15 minutes later, I received a reply. I went to view the accommodations and meet the person who had posted that he needed a roommate. Fate was about to work it's magic.
Martin Aguilar was a Hispanic man (pretty cute too), and he needed a roommate. He was on hard times and so was I. Even though it was a studio apartment, it was so much better than the Single Room Occupancy hotel I had been living in, that I immediately said, "Sure, I'd be more than happy to move in with you and share the rent."
I moved in that day, Sunday July 12. Over the course of the following month, we got to know each other and before you knew what was happening, we realized that something "cosmic" was happening to us. Only later did I find out what the cosmic connection happened to be.
Unbeknownst to me, his landlord had informed him that he wanted to evict him for non-payment of rent. Even though we offered him enough money to catch up the past amount owed, he was adamant about evicting Martin. And that's what happened — we ended up being thrown out. Not only thrown out, but the police showed up one morning and said we had 15 minutes to get out. We were only able to pack enough items to last a few days, and we were out. They did let us back in to get our belongings, but needless to say, it was a very traumatic event for both of us.
By the time we were evicted, we had realized that we seemed to have a connection with each other and I told Martin that I was not going to just abandon him; we would tough it out together.
It took from August until November 2015 to succeed, but I secured us a studio apartment in the outer Mission area of San Francisco, not all that far from where I had lived in the Excelsior district.
One day, I was telling Martin about a trip I had taken to Arizona, to celebrate the wedding of Dennis's nephew to his partner, and that I had been a Healy for a weekend. When I said "Healy," Martin said: "Did you say Healy?"
"Yes, Dennis Healy was my partner and his family has always considered me to be part of their family. Why do you ask?"
"Rick," Martin said, "Healy was Dan's middle name (his partner that had passed away). Wow."
It was at that point that we realized that something was happening that we could not explain. Not only did his former partner have "Healy" as part of his name, he had passed away Christmas Eve 2009, one year before Dennis passed away Christmas Eve 2010. We both had a feeling that Dennis and Dan had gotten together "up there" and decided they needed to stir the pot to make sure Martin and I would meet, fall in love and become partners.
And that's what happened!
We just celebrated being together for two years now, and we couldn't be happier. I never even felt that I would ever meet someone new, but as they say, when you least expect it, that's when love will strike.
