May-December Romance

My parents had a May-December romance. It took several years before my mom fell in love with my father, but when she did, it was forever. They were about 13 years apart, her being the younger partner.

It wasn't easy courting during the Great Depression, but my father was an engineer and iron worker, and started his own steel erection business at a time when many people were standing in bread lines. He did a lot to help my mother's family, who owned a dairy farm.

John and Mary wed in 1940, shortly after WWII began, and although it was a time of great hardship in the world, their love prevailed, and they raised 5 children before his untimely death when I was 9 years of age.

Losing my father was tough. He was an amazing man, and seemed to know just about everything. My mom was very bright and could be stubborn as a mule, but she was lost without him, and never the same after he died.

Today, people meet online, and break up in text messages. None of it makes sense to me, but then again, I'm a hopeless romantic.