"When I was a kid I wanted a family. I had it in my head I'd have a dog, two parents, at least one brother. Then," a wry smile,a sigh.

"I'd end up in a foster home with two parents and foster siblings and sometimes there were pets and all I wanted was to leave. It's always been this way for me. But I've learned how to be happy and how to be with other people in the way that works for me; it's not normal. It's not what other people seem to have. But I can live with it."