Kate Tellers (8:30)

That was Tate Russell. Tate is an admission counselor at Case Western Reserve University, singer with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, and the proud holder of an 1800 day streak on Duolingo. He also founded his own storytelling club, off the Cuff, during his undergraduate years at Carleton College. We were curious to see if Tate and his ex ever reconnected after their Music man performance. Tate said that this show was actually the second time that she and I had played opposite of one another as exes. We had done Annie together where she played Annie and I played Mr. Warbucks. A story for another time after the Music man. We did go our separate ways and never really reconnected. Post graduation I continue to do theater and I'm happy to say that since then I have had no romantic history with any of my onstage partners. We wanted to hear from you about the first time you fell in love. So inspired by the prompt slips we give out at our story slams, we sent out a request on social media for super short stories about the first time you fell in love. Here are some of our favorites, along with some memories from the Moth staff. When I was 14 years old, I set my eyes on my friend's older brother who looked just like angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and that was sort of it for me. I was smitten.

Listener 1 (9:46)

At 16 I fell for a dashing German exchange student. Although our subsequent long distance odd hours AOL instant messenger relationship didn't pan out, it did spark love of foreign language travel and finding familiarity and love in different cultures.

Advertiser 1 (10:07)

Not romantic love, but the moment I saw my baby sister in my mother's hospital bed, she was so small and so pink and I was filled with more love than my 7 year old heart knew how to deal with.

Listener 2 (10:19)

My first love was a childhood friend that I grew up with. Our parents were friends and although it never bloomed into anything, we shared Italian ice under the canopy of a tree covered park on dusty red soil in the summer heat on my sixth birthday in Italy and I still remember that day 42 years later.

Listener 3 (10:37)

So for my eighth birthday my parents took me to see my first Broadway show. It was the musical Oliver and the lead was this actress singer by the name of George Brown. And I was smitten and I swore during the curtain call that she was looking right at me and I dreamt about her for weeks.

Kate Tellers (11:01)

If you're wondering about my first love, I'll tell you about my first reciprocal love. We were in college, very innocent and we loved each other very much. We were so uncomfortable talking about our feelings to each other that we took to writing in a journal that we passed back and forth to each other when we were together. Unfortunately, ultimately he realized that he was more attracted to men than he was to me and went on to marry a man, as did I. Despite all of this, he performed my wedding as well as my sister's and my father's second wedding and we both consider each other to be one of the great love stories of our lives. If you'd like to tell your own story, either on stage or via a slip, you can always go to one of our story slams. Check out themoth.orgevents to find one of them near you. You can also always follow us on social media. We're on TikTok and Instagram OSS Stories. We'll be back in a second with another story about love.

Advertiser 1 (11:59)

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Advertiser 3 (13:04)

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Kate Tellers (13:37)

Welcome back. On this episode, we're exploring the theme of timeless love and our next story is all about what can happen when you spend your entire life with someone. Steve Glickman told this at a Chicago Story Slam where the theme was Love Hurts. Here's Steve live at the Moth Around.

Steve Glickman (13:56)

A year ago, I moved back in with my parents. The occasion was that my mom had a nervous breakdown because she was overwhelmed caring for my dad who has dementia. Family crisis. Gay son with no kids to the rescue. That's me. My Parents live in the suburbs, about an hour from where I live in the city with my partner Mark. I pack a bag and I move into their spare bedroom. That first night was weird. Lying on their futon, staring at the ceiling, I wondered, how did they get so old and how long can I do this for? Like, I love my parents, but they can drive me crazy sometimes living with them. I quickly see how bad my dad's dementia has become. His short term memory is shot. He can't remember what day it is. He can't remember what he had for lunch or if he had lunch. He wanders off and gets lost. He needs constant supervision. He still remembers my name and he's great at Jeopardy. But I can see why my mom lost it. So I try to help out where I can. I pay their bills, I give them their pills. I watch over my dad during the day while I'm working. But I have a full time job and it becomes pretty clear that I can't do nearly enough. And I start to think that sending my dad to a memory care facility might be the best option. One morning I'm having coffee in the kitchen and my mom walks in. It's 11am they always get up late. I ask her why they don't get up any earlier and she says, that's our sexy time. Your father gets very frisky in the morning. I say, wow, that's excellent. Every morning? She says, every morning. Then she laughs like a teenage girl. She's 85. Give it up for my mom. Yeah, it's impressive, right? Little envious, actually. Mark and I don't have sex every day, not even close. And we're gay men. My dad is 90, so in context, it's not all that surprising. My parents have always liked their sexy time. We were a sexually liberated family. When I was five years old, I asked my parents, where do babies come from? And they told me right then and there exactly how babies are made. I said, wow, can I watch the next time you make a baby? My dad said, no, that's a private thing between me and mommy. I couldn't understand why they wouldn't let me watch. But when I got a bit older, I knew they always tried to make a baby On Sunday afternoons. They would lock the door to their bedroom, but I could hear my mom moaning because I was right outside. Anyhoo, the next time that we go visit their doctor, my mom mentions sexy time because she's all about transparency. And the doctor says that hypersexuality is actually a symptom. Of Alzheimer's. My mom looks down at the floor. We had been using the word dementia for years, and my mom thought dementia meant the ordinary forgetfulness that comes with old age. But Alzheimer's was something entirely different. My mom looks at the doctor and she says, you don't know he has Alzheimer's. There is no test. The doctor says he has all the symptoms. You're right. There is no definitive test, but he has it. My mom shakes her head. She can't accept it. But Alzheimer's or not, my parents enjoy their sexy time. And I realized that if I move my dad into a memory care facility, then I would be breaking them up. My parents have shared the same bed for 60 years and they fought like cats and dogs for most of those years. But they always made up, usually in bed. And if I send dad away, it will kill them. So I start looking for in home caretakers. I interviewed a few. We hired one, but she didn't work out. And at this point, I'd been living with them for three months and I was going a little bit crazy. I love my parents, but I needed my life back then. We hired Kelsey. On her first day, my dad tells her to leave. And then he yells at me, I don't need any help. I'm fine. People with Alzheimer's have no idea how much help they need. Kelsey smiles at me and she says, it's all right. This is normal for day one. In a week, my parents had accepted Kelsey, and in a month they fell in love with her. I moved out and I reclaimed my life and my sanity. It's been a year now, and Kelsey is a part of our family. I'm glad I was able to keep my parents together. They can have their sexy time whenever they want. And you know what? I don't need to watch. Thank you.

Kate Tellers (20:35)

That was Steve Glickman. Steve is a lifelong Chicagoan and storyteller. He recently retired from a career in software engineering and now spends his time teaching digital literacy to adults and getting eight hours of sleep a night. He lives in the uptown neighborhood of Chicago with his partner Mark and their imaginary dog, Ruffles. For more on Steve, check out our show notes. We wanted to check in on how Steve's dad was doing. Steve said Dad's symptoms have worsened over the past couple of years and he's no longer conversational. But he loves listening to music and can recognize his favorite songs from the 1950s and 60s. Mom and dad still live at home and share a bed. To see a photo of Steve's parents on their wedding day. Just go to our website themoth.org extras that's it for this episode from all of us here at the Moth. We hope that you find love wherever and whenever you can.

Kate Dellers (21:33)

Kate Dellers is a Storyteller host, Senior Director at the Moth and co author of their fourth book, how to Tell a Story. Her writing has been featured on McSweenies and the New Yorker. This episode of the Moth podcast was produced by Sarah Austin Dunness, Sarah Jane Johnson and me, Mark Salinger. The rest of the Moth leadership team includes Sarah Haberman, Christina Norman, Jennifer Hickson, Kate Tellers, Marina Clouche, Suzanne Rust, Leanne Gulley and Patricia Urena. The Moth podcast is presented by Odyssey. Special thanks to their executive producer Leah Rees Dennis. All Moth stories are true as remembered by their storytellers. For more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story and everything else, go to our website themoth.org.

Listener 1 (22:21)

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