Heck yes! I loved being married to my late wife and in no way do I think getting remarried at some point takes anything away from my love for, and devotion to, her. I promised to stick by her for richer for poorer and in sickness and in health. We had all those things. I wasn't planning on the "till death do us part" portion of the vows happening so soon but you don't get to choose the time. Some of the posters have mentioned they treasure their freedom and wouldn't want to give that up. Okay - but my view is if you choose wisely, you don't. To me, the best marriage is based primarily on friendship anyway - all true intimacy flows from that. I enjoy myself every day as a single Dad - but why not promise to share that with someone again if she wants into my life? The idea of blending families, finances, and lives is exciting for me - not daunting. If the right woman comes along, I'd do it all over again. Doc

We were married May 31, 1980 at the Otterbein United Methodist Church in Washington, Indiana...the town my parents were living in...20 years earlier my brother had gotten married in the smaller chapel and I just thought it was the most beautiful church...it was a long way for my husbands family to come but they all made it and it was close to most of my relatives...We had our reception at the National Guard Armory and had a country western band...not hubster and I's choice of music but I knew both sides of the family would enjoy it...I still remember it like it was yesterday...even our doggie was present at the reception! It was a fun day for our entire families!

I'll agree with caroline. The smell of oranges makes us want to clean house.

I totally hear you TX!! I once cooked a lot at home because I bought my first house at 44 and after decades of living in small apartments, I finally had a (relatively) nice kitchen and space to entertain. That's actually when I joined the CF, back when it was just "Garden Web." I had previously stuck to the Trees forum because that was my field, but I ventured over here to ask for advice because I was hosting Thanksgiving for the first time for my family, and being mostly vegetarian all my life, had no idea how to cook a turkey so it didn't turn out tasteless and dry . . . From there on in, I was hooked and hung out here a lot, participating in virtual dinner parties, recipe challenges and "What's For Dinner." But then my life changed, I got really really busy with work because I changed jobs to one I had a long commute to, over an hour each way, so was tired when I came home. My having the energy to devote to my hobbies of canning, gardening and cooking dwindled. Plus, living alone I got tired of elaborate "cooking for one" and all the left overs. In fact, it's not wanting left overs and wanting to use up stuff in my fridge that got my husband and I together initially. I watched yet another episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" last night and it was about how Ray and Deborah first met, and how she had to coax the relationship along at the beginning. She ended up arranging it so she would invite Ray over to her apartment for her "lemon chicken" which he raved about then, but at the start of the show he was less than enthusiastic about 15 years later . . . The same happened to hubs and I, we met online, then met in person for coffee, then were corresponding via e-mail and I was waiting and waiting and waiting for him to ask me out again. I made the coffee arrangements and initiated the online correspondence, so I figured if this relationship was going anywhere, the next move would have to be on him. Nothing. So eventually it got to be the middle of June and my yard was looking really nice and I had a fridge full of food that eating alone was going to be no fun, so I threw caution to the wind and said, "Oh to heck with it, I'm inviting him over for dinner, even if it is 'too forward' for a second date, at least he will be some company . . . " And the rest is history! ;) I always say I married my husband because he was a "good eater." We bonded over shared cooking and canning adventures. In his defense, hubs always says that he had been married previously for 27 years and was out of practice with dating. That's his excuse for being slow on the uptake with our courtship. Hubs is becoming more and more like Frank Barone though, snarky and insulting, but part of that is probably due to some of the same issues Frank Barone was dealing with, retirement and loss of some of the things that gave him satisfaction and purpose. And then his frustration with the issues of the pandemic is adding insult to injury. And then hanging out with my Dad, who squeezed the life out of my Mother's enjoyment of cooking too . . . both my mother and I pursued our own passions without feeling the need to please the spouse, but still, sometimes . . . No sense in sniping back at them though, you'll end up with a home full of acrimony and fighting, and it won't necessarily all be funny . . . As for the truck, my Dad had what is affectionately known around here as a "beater truck." A rusty old 2001 Ford F150 held together with bailing wire that you would no way see on the road in NY or PA with state vehicle inspections. Dad moved to a condo where he only had a one car garage for his nice GMC Terrain, and cannot park another car in the driveway, so it sat in our driveway 7 months out of the year and then in paid storage. We just weren't getting enough use out of it to justify the cost of keeping it. But my Dad always ran around in an old truck and he is of the mindset that his Terrain is only for certain "good" situations. The main issue is he used to drive the truck halfway to his godson's summer cottage and leave it at a Park and Ride and they would come and get him and take him the rest of the way. He didn't want to leave his "good" vehicle there for a week, so he used the truck. Now with the pandemic and his godson having cancer, those trips are no more. And it doesn't matter to him that both the godson, the grandgodson, me and my husband have all offered to drive him there whenever he wants, he is insistent on driving himself. I kind of looked the other way because it was a straight shot up a not too busy freeway for the one trip. My Dad is an OK driver, but it really is about energy. I have argued with my Dad, why use up all your energy driving somewhere and then have no energy left to enjoy the destination??!! But I think he actually enjoys the drive more than the fun destinations. Just like he enjoys processed junk foods more than home made special ones. He'll take an oreo over a home baked oatmeal cookie any day . . .