It is possible to find vibrant love in the seventh decade of life. Two couples shared brunch and the joy of a surprise wedding at the Crooked Oak Restaurant. This book describes the encounter and the back stories that made the event so memorable and hopeful. This is an honest book affirming that many people find themselves unpaired in their sixties either through divorce or the death of a spouse. Yet it also affirms the adage, “Once in a while, in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale.”

Ultimately, this is a hopeful book. Finding yourself unpaired in a later chapter of life can be desperately unsettling. When you have had a partner for most, if not all, of your adult life, finding yourself alone is disconcerting and disorientating. Many people choose to remain unattached in later life, as being with someone is exceedingly complex. When you are young, you fall in love and grow up together. When you are old, you have adult children with opinions, a tax advisor, property, financial accounts, and long memories of being with another person.

There are plenty of good reasons to remain unpaired in later life. Even so, sometimes “love gives us a fairy tale.”