I am going to turn 75 in April of this year, 2010. I was born in Toronto, Canada in 1935. I married in 1957 and had five children, 2 sons and 3 daughters. The man I married I divorced in 1988. He was too controlling and angry. My inborn personality is one of optimism - I ALWAYS see the glass as half full. His childhood trauma colored his adult thinking. He made a lousy husband and a very poor father for my kids. After years of unhappiness, I took the youngest two (both girls) and struck out on my own. The best thing I ever did and only wish I had done it when all five of them were younger.

I returned to Toronto and took a year off to rediscover my birth city. What changes I noted. The twenty-two years I had been gone saw Toronto evolve into a world-class city filled with newcomers from all over the world. Their cultures, foods, customs were awe inspiring and such fun to discover.

I took a job, finally, with a large schoolboard and began my new career in computers. Up to this time I had no knowledge of computers, but after learning on the job, became quite proficient in taking the electronic office into the local school offices and training secretaries to use a thing called wordprocessing! The ease of learning it and passing it on, amazed me.

I had spent 15 years in a small town hospital as a medical lab tech and getting back to office work was something I enjoyed. There were no "emergencies or stat" appearances asked of me. I found the pace relaxing and fun. The girls settled into their big city life and after a few years I figured there had to be a decent man out there for me. I determined to find him.

First, I tried the newspaper personals, then a dating service where I did meet a very nice man whom I started dating. This friendship lasted about a year, but he was ten years older than me and beginning to age with medical problems that I wasn't ready to take on. We parted as good pals and he died shortly after. Next, I tried the "internet" which was something I knew a little about and by that I mean, I could find my way around the sites. I signed on with one called Senior Friendfinders and after meeting quite a few lemons, I decided to write a book entitled The Dating Scene After Sixty. Each chapter is the story of a different blind date. This book is available from me for $20.00 which includes s&h. I have had some sales but would like to see more women read of my experiences and learn from my mistakes.

Then one day it happened! A very sweet and friendly gent aged 73 to my 68 wrote to me and asked me to correspond with him. I said I did not write to men who did not havd a photo posted. He suggested that he could snailmail me one as he didn't know how to upload a photo of himself. I gave him my address and the next day, I opened a note from him and out fell a picture of him. He is very handsome I think so I emailed him back and said yes he could telephone me. At the time I was living about a hundred miles north of his home. We chatted on the phone for a few minutes and I liked his hint of a Scottish accent. He said he could come up the next day and we could go to dinner so I said okay. 

Chat in person we did. For over four hours until I realized that is was almost eight p.m. and we were both starving. He took me into town to a restaurant and we had a lovely "date". Again, talking to him was an easy and relaxing thing. I was taken by his happy blue eyes, white hair and wonderful smile. He really was quite goodlooking in person and dressed casually but with an elegance that suggested his past profession in architecture had given him a sense of style. I learned later that he always bought his own wardrobe even though he had had a wife and daughters. I think most of us as women like to 'dress' our men whether they are a brother, father, boyfriend or husband. Here was a very modern man, intelligent, easy to look at and available. It was obvious to both of us that we liked each other and when he said he would like to say overnite, I said only if he got a room in the local motel and drove me home first. Of course he said that was his intention. I invited him for breakfast and afterward we could drive to the boatdock where our Miss Midland sailed around the 30,000 islands of Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. We took this boat trip and he took many photos while I inhaled the beauty of the mid-September day on the water. The cruise was about two hours long and when we got back to the town dock he suggested we have lunch and then he would have to be heading home.

We had discussed being friends and getting to know each other before becoming romantically involved. What a relief I thought as most dates had figured after dinner I should hop into bed with them. I was obviously meeing an intelligent and classy guy. We did become pals and for six months we continued to get to know one another. Near my birthday in April, he invited me out for a birthday dinner and arrived with flowers, chocolates, jewellery, perfume and a wonderful card that told me how our friendship had evolved into love. He declared that he had fallen in love with me and I remember saying.."great, cuz I'm in love with you too!" That was seven and a half years ago. We are still wonderfully in love and someday plan to live together. We really enjoy the thrill of getting together after a few days apart. I have moved to a town only twenty minutes from his home and we are together almost five out of seven days weekly. My children have all accepted him and think of him as their surrogate father. He is very caring and concerned about their lives and takes an interest in them that their own father never did. I am happier than I have ever been in my life.

How did you get to where you are now?

by hard work and sheer determination!

How do you see yourself differently now than you did 10 years ago?

Now, at 74, I am totally in love with a wonderful man. This is the fellow I have been seeking since 1988 when I divorced the man I should never have married! Ten years ago, I was searching but never losing hope. I proved to myself that everything comes to he/she who waits.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully, my partner will still be alive and well. He is 80 now, so will he see 90. Who knows? Hope springs eternal in this old heart of mine.