Love in Our Golden Years. - Love on the Doorstep…

After four years of constantly checking virtual dating sites ( See Virtual Dating As A Senior blog link for details), love has literally shown up on my doorstep!

As HE describes it… he was walking past my door, he ran into a lady holding a dog leash with no dog attached.

As I tell it… for two or three mornings in a row I noticed a new neighbor walking at the same time as I was walking my dog. I also noticed that he seemed to be walking just around the 55+ Senior Apartment complex. We had nodded and said “Good morning!” to each other on at least one of those mornings. On this particular morning, I had previously walked the dog, and on entering my building, I had unleashed the dog inside, then been met by another new neighbor whose A/C had gone on the blink during the night. This other neighbor was wondering what he should do about the A/C, so I had walked him out the door, with the empty leash in hand, intending to take him to the facility person who lives in the complex. As we walked out the door, my future love reached the outside of my door and asked with a smile in his eyes, “So you are walking a leash without your dog?”

I laughed and replied, “Well, actually I have to help this young man (pointing to the other new neighbor), get his A/C fixed. However, I noticed you must be new here as well and have been walking around the complex. Has anyone shown you the trails in the community outside of here yet?”

“Nope”, he replied, “I’ve just thought I’d get my walk done early in the morning while it’s cool.”

“Well, I walk the dog every morning about this time, so you are welcome to join us. I’m busy this weekend, but we could meet on Tuesday morning, and I’ll show you the local neighborhood.”

“Ok… see you then!” And so it began… that next Tuesday, as I walked out with Petey the dog, he met me at the picnic table on the corner. We walked the short mile path down the road, talking the whole way. As we finished that walk, I thought to myself, “ I think he’s a keeper.” But I said to him, “That’s the short pathway. We had to take that one today as I have to volunteer today, but tomorrow we can go the long path if you are interested and willing.”

“Ok, I’m up for that.”

“So here’s my phone, put in your number, and I’ll text you when Petey and I are ready to leave tomorrow.” He put in the number, and I stuck the phone in my back pocket. When I went to unleash the dog and bent down, the phone dialed his number, and I heard him talking to me as I got in the elevator. I had butt dialed him by accident!

But he was thinking while talking on the phone that he had gotten my “digits”, which his grandkids had teased him about when he first started dating.

The next day the walk turned into much longer than even I had planned. We got so busy talking and laughing and enjoying each other’s company, that I got myself twisted in the way we were supposed to walk, and we got lost! What was supposed to be a mile and a half walk turned into a 3 mile walk. But the time had flown by, and we continued talking about anything and everything.

That first walk has now turned into a month of daily walks and talking and laughing all day, every day. It’s an auspicious start to living and loving the sunsets of our lives.

The pages in this section of the blog will chronicle the progress of this late life love affair.

Further chronicles of this period of my life:

Golden Reflections – Love on the Doorstep
Golden Reflections- Life & Love in our Senior Years …. Life and Love a year later – August 6, 2022
Riding the waves of Love in the Golden Years Is it love for a Reason, Season, or a Lifetime – February 4, 2023
Crashing Waves of Love in the Golden Years – Where to go from here?

Dating in the Senior Years – Reflections on Dating Widowers