My husband was a good man. He died about seven years ago. From cancer. He fathered my children, and we lived together for about 55 years. That's a long time. It worked out very well. It was a kind of paradise. We had two great children and a pretty good life. And then I was alone. And it was lonely.

I wasn't really interested in meeting people, but that was a big mistake. I should have met everybody I could talk to. It's very important to be among friends and relatives, and people who understand your problem. Most people who are available don't understand, because they still have their husbands, and they have their houses, and they have everything around them, and they don't quite get it. It's a phenomenon that most people won’t recognize unless they're in the same position. 

You need to be a friend, not someone who says, “Oh, it's time, Marcia, it’s time to do something else. It's time to get out and take care of yourself and go somewhere and do something." We're not able to do that when our spouse dies. We need somebody to say, “We understand what happened. We will be there for you.” It's something that you have to really work at first. I say it took two years after his death. And in that time that you have, you recognize that your best friend is gone. 

That's probably something I will remember all my life. My brother couldn't even talk to me. And that was a blow. But I met somebody else. After deciding that I was going to get out of the house and keep going. And I did. I met someone who was very appropriate for me at the time. He had lost his wife. So it worked out beautifully. We were together for about five years… and then he passed away. We met without either one of us being in handicap care. And then all the handicaps came—we were ill, we were sick, we were hospitalized, off and on, both he and I, for about four years. The first year was relatively calm, but after that, one of us got sick, or was in the hospital, and so forth. So the five years were spent taking care of each other. And we never did get married. But we were together. And that was lovely.