Finding Love At The Grenadier

A great romance can flourish anywhere—and at any age.

- Linda Sparks From Toronto Life

MY FIRST WEDDING was a gorgeous affair. It was 1953 and my high-school sweetheart, Victor, had finally proposed after more than a decade of courtship. Vic spent several years in the Canadian Army overseas during WWII and so we had to wait. We married in a large Baptist church in Toronto, Canada; I wore an ivory silk dress with lace embroidery and a pillbox hat. At 32, I thought I was an old bride.

For 42 years, our life was full. We bought a little bungalow in Etobicoke, Ontario, with a small herb garden and a pond outback and raised two boys, Christopher and Timothy. Vic worked as an accountant and when the kids were older, I was ordained as a Baptist minister and took a job as a hospital chaplain. In 1995, at age 76, Vic died after a long and painful bout of emphysema. The loss was devastating, but I was grateful we’d had so many decades together.

After Vic ’s death, I lived by myself for 10 years. Towards the end of that stint, the loneliness started to get to me. I craved friendship and excitement and noise. A cousin of mine lived at Toronto’s Chartwell Grenadier Retirement Residence and I decided to join her. I had my own suite with a bathroom and kitchenette. It took some time to get used to being around people all the time, but I came to love the movie nights and ice-cream socials. The place was like summer camp for grown-ups.

One night in June 2008, about three years after I moved to the Grenadier, I was eating with a few other ladies when a man sat down next to me. I thought to myself,