It's Never Too Late!

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Dateline: Wednesday, October 24, 2018- At Sea 400 miles off LA on course for Hilo, Hawaii

Sea Day. Love it, not much to do…unless you want to… then you could be busy all day with dance lessons, trivia, lectures, the ever-popular “napkin folding”, sunning on deck, going to the gym…and on and on. We opt for a relaxing day so at 7am we head down to the coffee bar. A few minutes later a gentleman sits down next to us and says hello. This is how it goes…

Richard is 90 years old, born in 1928. He looks about 65. He is cruising to the Hawaiian Islands and South Pacific by himself, having lost his wife of 68 years, 6 years ago. He just came back from the gym where he was lifting weights.

Richard:

Yes, I’m on this cruise by myself. It cost me almost as much as two people with the single supplement. My wife died 6 years ago. Take care of your bones. She fell and broke her hips twice and then that was the end. We had been married 68 years. When she died it was very very hard. For 6 months I thought I could deal with the grief myself, but I wasn’t getting through it. Then a friend suggested a grief group and I went, even though I didn’t think I needed it. There were only 2 men and all the rest were women. It really helped me.

I have one son and he lives 150 miles away. I have a condo on the coast and he comes up with his surfboard to surf and make sure I’m ok.

I was an electrical engineer when I was working and worked on controller systems for high tech industries in the bay area. I lived in Walnut Creek and Palo Alto. I’m a third generation Californian. My father died in a car accident when he was 50 and my mother drank herself to death when she was 63. Somehow, I guess they must have had good genes as I’ve made it to 90.

You will probably think this is creepy but the last time I came to Hawaii I brought my wife’s ashes with me. I miss her so much.

Did I tell you I’m a third generation Californian? Yes. My grandfather came from Michigan in 1862 and went to where Chico is now. He laid out the town of Chico. I can’t imagine living anywhere else but California, can you?

Say guess what I did last night? I went to the singles get together. There were about 25 of us. Three widows were there. I thought I’d be the oldest one there but…I wasn’t. There Is a man on the cruise who is 99. We are going to find some ladies and go dancing tonight.

And so, our day begins. Off to a lecture on volcanoes.

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