Before the days of matchmaking sites and online dating, there were personal ads in newspapers. Rose Taibbi, to keep her mind occupied while waiting to go to the wake of a dear friend, picked up a local newspaper and looked at the personals. She crossed off everyone but two and, baffled as she was at why she was even looking, she called the first one. She never made the second call. Just as well.
As soon as she got home, the phone rang. Yes, Steven Taibbi. They met for the minimal commitment of a coffee-date from which she expected nothing in particular. They saw each other every day after that and 7 months later got married. That was 31 years ago.
What drew Rose to Steven? To listen to Rose talk about their romance is a lesson in giving love a chance and a very good tutorial for men who want to know what women value. Yes, men, it is the listening!
Naturally Rose knew about Steven’s medical challenges since the day he was born, but she, a chemotherapy nurse, was not uncomfortable with any of it. Ten years into the marriage a cardiac infection required that he get a new heart. Did she see the crisis coming? When the diagnosis came, what was her reaction?
Getting the first transplant was a long and challenging odyssey, the details of which are beyond instructive. Success. Until it failed. Then he needed a second heart transplant. The odds of finding one donor can be daunting, but finding two?
Rose was up to the challenge, and spares no details in giving us critical information. To hear her talk about her life with Steven, about his successful surgeries is a story laden with hope and layered miracles. Life was filled with love, challenges and adventures.
Meeting the family of Steven’s donor David Jason Jocobo, how it happened and what evolved from their meeting is a tale of incomparable grief blanketed by donor family compassion, courage and ultimately the creation of a new family.
The power of a profound gratitude letter? Rose needed the donor family to know how grateful she and Steven were for the life he was gifted by this healthy young heart. Listen to Rose talk about all of it, including David Jocobo’s mother, a woman of immense strength and humanity. What Rose did at their first meeting as she walked into the room with her stethoscope, well, get that box of Kleenex.
