Second Chances, Part One
Jeanette A. Fratto, Orange County Branch
Barbara Paxton stared at her computer, sighed, and began typing on the keyboard. In a few seconds the “Senior Singles” screen opened. A few more clicks of her password and Barbara entered her own personal chat room. If anyone told her when she divorced two years ago she’d be exploring Internet dating, she’d have thought they’d lost their mind. But an empty house, lonely nights, and too much free time, changed her thinking. Now she’d joined this alien world, still embarrassed by the whole idea, so much so, that she called herself “Lois” online.
She still missed Paul, her husband of 25 years, now her “ex”. How she hated that term. “My ex”, people said, when they talked about their own broken marriages. She shivered at the thought. It had the ring of failure all over it and Barbara believed her marriage had been a good one. She kept a lovely home, cooked great meals, reared two children to be responsible adults, but somehow it wasn’t enough. Looking back, as she did so many times, she realized she had been caught up too much in the home department, and not enough in the husband department. Paul, too, needed to share the blame. He worked long hours to advance his career and provide a good living for the family, but never came home until late in the evening. They seemed to function separately.
When it was all over, Barbara realized they rarely argued. Instead of their marriage collapsing all at once, it disintegrated by bits and pieces, until there was nothing left but to go their separate ways. Like a tire with a slow leak, their marriage had rolled along, slowly deflating, and suddenly it was flat.
Now at 57, Barbara participated in a dating scene that so far had been a disaster. Mostly she chatted online with men who sounded terrific, until she met them in person. “Bill,” probably not his name either, was her first coffee date. The picture he’d posted must have been taken during college. It bore no resemblance to the overweight and bald man in front of her. She could have overlooked that, but he spent their time together running down his three ex-wives, the fault of all his problems. No doubt about that.
It took a while to venture out again. This time it was “George,” nice enough, but several inches shorter than she, and at least 20 years older, and extremely interested in her financial situation. He couldn’t seem to find his wallet, so she ended up paying for their coffee date.
Barbara thought it would take a miracle for her to meet anyone in person again. So why was she back on “Senior Singles?” Loneliness was a great motivator, combined with the hope at least one decent person existed who was looking for someone like her.
Come back next month to find out what happens
to Barbara and John.