Love In Act 3

Constance Goodyear, soon to be 63 years old, is recently retired from her practice in family medicine. She very much loved her work in a rural setting in southern Mississippi, almost as much as she now enjoys her retirement in Palm Springs, California. Constance has been nearly swept out to sea by Hurricane Katrina, has survived a cancer diagnosis, and is now happily engaged to a very special woman. They are understandably thrilled about the recent SCOTUS decisions and have plans to marry next spring.

"Here I am, 62 and on my own -- so off I went to dating sites to see what I might find. One bio after another filled with folks who just love moonlit beach walks and starry nights, but nobody really saying what they were really looking for. So I changed it up with this poem, instead of a traditional bio, and after more than a few dates with mismatches I can say I have found "my someone" -- and we both live happily ever after."

though our hearts experience
may be risk averse
though our careworn wounded trust
has been tested
time after time
and despite our fear of calamity
we proceed -
because risk is required
because trust is crucial
to dispel the qualm -
to emerge
from the sometimes lonely solitude
and safety of the status quo
to venture once again
however slowly
however reticent our steps -
with hope
in the gentle nascent sanguine stirring -
with full conviction
that tenderness exists -
that with friendship
our breakable hearts will be
safe -
that autonomy does not preclude
intimacy
and that the intimacy we seek
will not elude us.

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