“My husband is fifteen years older than I am. I didn’t know how old he was until we went to go sign our marriage license. We had been together for two years. He knew how old I was because I talk all the time. He’s very quiet. It’s just a number and didn’t put any doubts in my mind.

His daughter set me up on a blind date with him. She’s my hair dresser. I had been married 25 years before and had never gone out with anybody else; I was scared to death. He came to my home. We had snacks and some cocktails, and sat on the deck and talked. We just really clicked. The funny thing is that he asked if I liked to go boating. I told him that I loved water-skiing, so he said we should go out on his boat sometime.

My daughter and I had free tickets to see a psychic and the psychic said that I would meet someone with a dark colored truck that would be my soulmate. When he pulled up in front of the house that day, he had a navy blue truck pulling the boat. I got down on my knees and said, ‘Dear Lord, don’t let me make a fool of myself in front of this man!’ We’ve been married for 22 years.” (1/2)

“My husband had a heart attack when we were in Daytona on vacation. That was a very scary time. We had bought the condo in ’02, and in ’03 when we were down there, he was watching one of the races after we had been out sightseeing all day. I was reading on the extra bed, and he asked me from the other room if we had any Pepto-Bismol. I told him no and that we had some Sprite, so he drank a Sprite. I was still reading when he came to the bedroom. He said he really needed Tums or something. I put my book down and looked at him and his lips were blue. I went into nurse mode. I told him I was getting dressed and we were going to the hospital. He told me, ‘Let’s not blow this out of proportion.’ I used some cuss words on him and told him to get into the car.

It was thirty minutes to the nearest regional hospital. It was 11:30 at night and I was driving 65 mph down the middle of Daytona. I didn’t care if anyone was going to pull me over. On the way there he said to me, ‘You know, that numbness and tingling in my left arm is almost gone. We should go home.’

I told a nurse he was having a heart attack and she kept arguing with me about who was first: Medicare or my insurance. I told her to just send me the bill.

The doctor said he had a heart attack and that I was smart for getting him there. Later on the nurse was going to make me leave. I told her it was three in the morning and I didn’t know my way around Daytona. She said she was sorry and that it was policy. So I went home, took a shower, changed clothes, got my nightgown on, and laid there for an hour until I thought, ‘I can’t do this.’

I went to Krispy Kreme and got five dozen donuts. I took the back entrance and luckily a maintenance man let me in. I told him I was delivering donuts to the third floor. I went up there and the nurse was standing behind the desk. I told her the donuts were for her for taking care of Mr. Robinson. I put them down and shot right into his room. He looked at me and asked what time it was. I told him it was ten after five. He said, ‘Didn’t you just leave here?’ And I said, ‘Just a little bit ago.’ He asked how I got back in. I told him that nurses love donuts.” (2/2)

Mary Margaret is an active volunteer and board member at the Decatur – Macon County Senior Center. To learn more about the Senior Center and its services, click here.