Maury and Lynn: Our Story
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This is the story about how we came together. I met Lynn at the local senior center. We both had a beloved spouse pass away. Lynn had been married for 48 years while I had been married for 47 years. Lynn's husband died suddenly in 2007. My wife died after an 18-month battle with cancer, finally succumbing in 2008. Lynn found emotional support with her family and many friends. She also was able to keep busy as a volunteer at the Cupertino Senior Center. I coped by buying a sports car and driving back to my hometown as well as around the Western United States touching base with family members, old friends and Navy buddies. I volunteered to help a friend by building a website for my friend's company. That would give me something to do and to keep busy for a while. After about a year of grieving, I decided to get back into "The World." I thought it might be a good idea to join the local sports center to get into better shape and get healthy. I was told that there was a very big discount if I was a member of the Cupertino Senior Center. With the center only a block away, I drove over to become a member thinking that would be the only time I would enter the senior center. My plan was to become a member of the senior center and immediately go back to the sports center and never return to the senior center. I had never wanted to join the senior center because I had a predetermined idea that there probably were only very old people there and I still didn't feel old enough to join them. A surprise was waiting for me inside the center. As I entered the door, I saw a pretty woman peering over the counter with a beautiful smile. I immediately wanted to meet this lady, however, another attractive senior lady asked, "May I help you?" I told her that I was there to join the senior center. With that the woman said, "This lady is taking new registrations" pointing to the woman with the pretty smile. All the seniors behind the counter didn't seem to be as old as I thought they would be. In fact, I was surprised to see mostly people my age with some younger than me. It also struck me that these people seemed to be active and busy. So much for my wrong-headed idea of what I would find in the senior center. I moved over to where the pretty lady was to get registered. The registration required that I divulge everything about me. I had to tell about my health issues and all the prescriptions I took. During this brain dump, it became clear that this lady and I had a lot in common. I was happy to think that maybe, just maybe we might become friends so we could do things couples do when socializing. However, I forgot to get the lady's name and didn't realize it until I reached my car in the parking lot. I went back into the senior center and sheepishly asked for the lady's name; she said it was Lynn. So that is how Lynn and I first met. I thought I would come back the next day and ask Lynn to go to lunch with me. The next day, just before lunchtime, I went back to the senior center to talk with Lynn again. Unfortunately, she wasn't there. When I asked when Lynn would come in, I was told, "We don't know." I was surprised with that answer because I assumed that she would come to work at the same time each day. This is when I learned that the people behind the counter were volunteers and each team worked only four hours at a time. This meant that there were two teams of volunteers each day and not always the same teams. So now I figured that I would find out which day of the week Lynn worked. When I asked, again I was told, "We don't know." I was somewhat puzzled at getting the same answer to my questions. So, I finally asked, "Why don't you know when Lynn works?" The reply was, "Because she's a floater." This response brought up memories from my days in the U.S. Navy. When my ship was in Hong Kong Harbor a dead person might be floating in the water. This was reported as a "Floater." My ship visited Hong Kong four times during my tour of duty and we saw at least one floater during each trip. Okay, I came in each day to try to be there when Lynn finally shows up. At one point I asked, "What does floater mean?" The answer was logical; a floater is a volunteer who comes in only when needed and not on a fixed schedule. So, I asked if it was known when Lynn might come in and I was told that they didn't know because Lynn was on a tour of Colorado. So, I kept coming in until one day Lynn showed up at the senior center 12 days after I first met her. I was at the senior center everyday around lunch time. Finally, I was able to ask Lynn if she would like to go to lunch with me sometime and she said she had to check her calendar. When I saw her open her calendar and saw it was filled with activities, I thought that there wouldn't be any time for me. Lynn then said, "I am available next Tuesday." I figured we would have lunch together and she wouldn't have any time for me after that. Tuesday finally came around and lunch turned into an all-day adventure beginning with a tour of the California Academy of Science in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. After the tour, it was time for lunch. We decided to drive down the coast to a seafood restaurant we both liked. After lunch we continued our trip down the Coast highway to Santa Cruz where we took the freeway through the mountains to take us home. During our time together we got to know each other better and we hit it off by the end of the day. That began a wonderful relationship with us being together since 2009. . Joining the Cupertino Senior Center has been one of the best things I've done. It is like having another extended family most of whom have had many life experiences that we share. The senior center has provided us with great opportunities to travel on day trips as well as international tours and cruises. Some years it seemed as if we no sooner got home when we were off on another exciting adventure. During our time together we have traveled to far flung places around the world and survived COVID so far. As soon as we can, we plan to travel a bit more until we decide that we need to settle down. |
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— Now you know our whole story — |
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