Dear Annie 2/27

Dear Annie: I am blessed to not have real problems like so many endure, but I would appreciate your opinion on a predicament.

I am a healthy 90-year-old man. I have outlived two wonderful wives. My first love and I were together for only eight short years. She came down with acute leukemia. During the five months that she suffered with it, one day she told me, “Dear, you will have to get the kids a new mother.” We had a 3-year-old son and a little girl that was only a year old when her mother died in early December.

I was devastated. But then a concerned neighbor friend asked me one day, about two months later, if I would like to meet a nice girl. I said that I wasn’t ready quite yet. After a while, I called her. It was the most difficult trip I ever made was driving down to meet her. It turned out to be the best trip I ever made. We married about 10 months later. Losing my first wife made me appreciate my second wife all the more.

Fifty-one years later, my second wife had a light stroke that brought on the beginnings of dementia. Of course, it progressed. Four years later, it took her life. We had 55 years of bliss together.

I have been alone now for 3½ years, with the support and love of my children. Five months ago, a very dear friend lost her husband of 63 years, and I’m interested in seeing if there might be something between us. I am not happy living alone. I have the feeling that I could be a great support for her. She lives alone now, too, and I want to help her.

I need to give her more time to grieve over her loss. Presently, she wants to go on as she is, us just being friends. My daughter told me to not push her too hard. And I agree. But she is the only woman I am interested in. What is your advice to me? – CW

Dear CW: I’m sorry for your losses. I think it’s wonderful that you enjoy companionship so much. As the song goes, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” But your daughter is right that you should give your lady friend space to grieve. And in the meantime, I would encourage you to learn how to enjoy the pleasure of your own company. Try a new hobby, enroll in an online course, write your memoirs. Take some time to really nourish your own sense of self. Then you’ll be even more present if and when you do get into another relationship.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.