Love Again

Yesterday my dad and step-mom celebrated their tenth anniversary. A decade of togetherness and marital bliss. And no, I am not being sarcastic. When you happen to find that person who fits, who complements you and with whom you are better together than alone - it is bliss.

My dad was married to my mother for 38 years and she often commented that he was someone who needed a partner with whom he could share his life with. Experiencing life alone has never been enough for him -- it was the sharing of his adventures that has always been paramount. My parents had a passionate relationship; they were fearless in their pursuit of their dreams; they fought hard and they loved harder. When my mother passed my sibs and I worried that my father would be aimless without a partner. We thought he would return to the far North and immerse himself in his work and we'd never see him again.

But that didn't happen. Serendipity intervened and through people dad knew in the North, he reconnected with a lady he had know decades earlier in university. They bonded over shared memories and over the course of many long distance phone calls, they developed a relationship worthy of pursuit.

It was a life affirming tonic. The light returned to my father's eyes; his interest in everything returned with a zeal and he was goofy in love. It was a riot to watch my grown father so smitten and fretting over the perfect Valentine's Day gift. This happened fairly soon after my mother's passing and the usual questions edged in ... was it  too soon? What would he be waiting for?  Is he still grieving? No telling how long that could take ... and who says you can't be moving forward while grieving?

I read somewhere that if people who have had a positive marital experience are happy to repeat it, and remarry. Those who haven't - don't. So ready or not, we welcomed another addition to our clan. Mama T - and it has been heartwarming to witness the bond they have formed. She gets him. And I really wasn't sure he would find someone at that point in his life who would.

And ten years later, I can see that she still puts a twinkle in his eye and his love for her is written all over his face. They love one another and they live their lives to the fullest. And isn't it comforting to know that we can love again - and that there isn't necessarily just one love out there for us? Each love is it own independent, special package of oneness, all unto itself. In this case it was a love for a season -- a season of renewal.

Thank you for showing us that life can be better as a pair - and that love can happen, at any age.