You Can Die From a Broken Heart

My Mother Remarried At The Age of 79 and died a year and a half later.

My mother decided to remarry within six months of my father’s death. My parents were married for sixty-two years.

My father died in October 2015. Within weeks a gentleman began to phone my mother — I’ll call him Sam. Mother was as giddy as a schoolgirl. I suppose being pursued, first by my father when she was 17, and again at 79 by Sam, was exhilarating.

Mother had known Sam most of her life. She was in second grade, and he was in first grade when they first met. My mother told me while in high school, they’d see each other socially, and she’d ride with him in his car to school functions. According to my mother, they were never anything but friends.

However, I believe my father had a differing view based upon an incident that occurred when I was about twelve years old. Our family attended a regional church function, and while there, we saw Sam and his wife. My parents paused, and a conversation ensued. I don’t recall any of the detail of the conversation itself, but I do remember on the drive home my father told my mother he didn’t appreciate her flirting with Sam in front of him. He added that he knew she’d always had feelings for him. My mother denied it.

We rode in uncomfortable silence from there to home. I don’t know if my parents picked up the conversation again once my brother, sisters, and I were out of earshot.

Years went by, and occasionally my family’s path would cross with Sam’s family. We had several shared acquaintances, so we also had a peripheral association and knowledge of the events occurring in their life. Sam’s wife was diagnosed with cancer and eventually passed away about four years before the death of my father.

Sam’s calls were followed with a few dates and finally a proposal. Mother told me about it and…

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