""I knew this guy was out of the square. He was so far out, he was in the hexagonal prism that was past the triangle next to the square.""When the author met her future husband, she was instantly charmed by his intensity, wacky conversation choices, and innate desire to create peculiar names. Seventeen years, one wedding, one baby and several adopted names later, it began to dawn on 'Herscue' that family jokes about her husband having Asperger's Syndrome may be closer to the truth than she had first imagined. Filled with moving and hilarious tales, one of which provides the origins of the author and her husband's adopted names, Herscue and Jomphrey, and their even stranger pronunciations, this personal account grapples with the highs and lows of a 25 year marriage to an Aspie husband.
Preface. 1. Introduction How to Catch an Aspie: A Fishing Tale. 2. The Glove that Fits: A Tale of Aspie Courting. 3. The Naming of Herscue and Jomphrey: A Tale of Baptism. 4. An Aspie Emerges: A Tale of Cracks. 5. An Aspie Diagnosis: A Tale of a Room Elephant. 6. The Man Who Times Forgot: A Tales of Aspie Navigation. 7. Aspie Organisation: A Tale of Filling the Boxes. 8. Rituals and Routines: A Tale of the Compulsive, the Disturbing and the Bizarre. 9. Sensory Integration: A Tale of Aspie Calibration. 10. A Touch of Tourette's: A Tales of Aspie Sound Seeking. 11. A Cast of Thousands: A Tale of Aspie Identity Crisis. 12. Tennis for One: A Tale of Aspie Communication. 13. Aspie Expectations: A Tale of Walls and Broken Pedestals. 14. 'In-to-me-you-see': A Tale of Aspie Bedtime Shenanigans. 15. The Twitch: A Tale of Near Aspie Murder. 16. Jomphrey and Humphrey: Tales of an Aspie Father. 17. One Foot In and One Foot Out: A Tale of Aspie Hokey Pokey. 18. Aspie Transitions: Tales from a Tardis. 19. Four Seasons in One Day: A Tale of Aspie Feelings. 20. There She Blows: A Tale of Battening down the Hatches. 21. An Asperger's and Coke Please: A Tale of Substance Use. 22. Holding back the Floodgates: A Tale of Aspie Armour. 23. My Aspie Vulnerability: A Tale of a Hole and a Plug. 24. Living Beyond the Bell Curve: A Tale of Mourning. 25. Getting the Aspie off my Chest: A Tale of Head Banging and Patch-working. 26. Gifts from an Aspie: A Tale of Silver Linings.
The tale of Herscue and Jomphrey is not a tale of woe. It is a tale of hope, patience and commitment. Reading this book made me laugh, hold my breath in disbelief and nod my head in agreement. Bergenstreiml tells the story of her marriage to a very different and highly intelligent man with Asperger Syndrome. Their story is unique and unlike any that I have read; it is a joy to be able to share it with them. A must-have read for anyone seeking to develop a better understanding of AS/NT relationships.
