The Morning Call about Reinalda, his girlfriend of two months, and how strangers assume she's his nurse. Anyway, a couple of days ago Burcaw wrote an article for theabout Reinalda, his girlfriend of two months, and how strangers assume she's his nurse.

He wrote:

Once, a person blankly asked if she was "the one who takes care of him." We've gotten used to this bizarre, recurring question, and often find ways to poke fun at their ignorance.



"He's my dad," Anna will answer with deadpan perfection.



"I just pay her to be my friend," I will say.

In the thoroughly heartwarming piece, Burcaw said he didn't think he was worthy of romantic affection for much of his young life. "I worried that my physical limitations would prevent girls from wanting to date me," he wrote. "I will not be able to pick her up in my car, I can't give hugs or hold hands very well, and we will be limited in the activities we can do for dates."

But at college, he "met some spectacular people who helped me shake the notion that love was only for the physically abled".

He added: "Once I realised that there are girls out there who are more than happy to 'make it work', the fear of being unloved for all eternity drifted away like a funny joke of the past."

And he wrote about how he and Anna had bonded over laughter:

One of our main sources of bonding became teaching her how to keep me alive, like how to brush my teeth without choking me, or how to put my shoes on without snapping my ankles ... She deserves an award for putting up with my relentless teasing.