NEW YORK TIMES

He Cared About Me, So I Broke Up With Him

"When you’re used to the roller-coaster emotions of bad relationships, it can be hard to believe in anything else."

David said that he knew I was interested because of my body language. I had turned to face him on the small wooden bench, tucking my feet under me and resting my arm on the backrest. He was carrying a backpack and talked about Studs Terkel and asked if I wanted to borrow Joan Didion’s “Slouching Towards Bethlehem.”

He had misread my body language, however. I wasn’t trying to show I was interested. The truth is, benches hurt my body, and turning to the side was the only way to make sitting there tolerable. Because of my illnesses — Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a painful genetic connective tissue disorder, and dysautonomia, which affects my ability to sit, stand, digest and regulate temperature — many positions are either painful or impossible to sustain for more than a minute or two. keep reading.....