Border Patrols

Tammy is a "thirty-something" woman for whom I serve as legal guardian. She has developmental disabilities and mental illness. She has an obsession with vampires. She feels that she is a man. How can a geeky middle-aged married guy have a good time with Tammy?

Several months ago, Tammy told me that she had never left the state in which we live. She lives less than 30 miles from a neighboring state. Unfortunately, nobody could pick up on the fact that she might think it would be pretty cool to visit another state. At that time, I told Tammy that we would drive to the neighboring state sometime.

Yesterday, Tammy had a staffing at the sheltered workshop where she works. Her case manager, her job coach, her group home supervisor and I all participated. Unbeknownst to Tammy, I told the others that, after the staffing, I planned to take Tammy for a drive to the neighboring state. I asked that they not tell Tammy so that she would be surprised. Near the end of the meeting, I asked Tammy if she remembered that I told her we would drive to the neighboring state sometime. I then told her that sometime is now.

While a drive to a neighboring state is not a big deal for most of us, I still put some thought into it to make sure it would be extra special. So, we drove down to the state border. We parked the car in our state and walked across the road to the neighboring state where I took a picture of Tammy at the state welcome sign. We then walked back to the car. I made sure that we drove across the border. Tammy was shaking with glee. She said she would tell her friends that she walked all the way from our state to the neighboring state and back again!