Today I went to visit my dad who has lived in an assisted living apartment for about 3 years. I've experienced and read all about the issues when we are trying to make the assisted living decision and then trying to get our LO to accept the need for the move. It's rarely an easy decision or an easy move. Today I went to visit my dad and as I was leaving there were three women sitting in the lobby chatting. One woman was pretty new to the building and the others were filling her in on how things worked. I didn't really listen until one of them said, perkily, "And there are a lot of good-looking single men here, too." I had to quickly exit before I started laughing.
My mom had a crush on the firemen that came to our house to pick her up when she fell. She was old, practically deaf, but she knew a good looking man when she saw one!
My dad was extremely handsome! She kissed his photo goodnight every single night before going to bed and told him that she loved him. She outlived him by many years. There does seem to be more widows than widowers.
Although by the Grace of God both DH and I are still around, I think, for someone who has experienced loss, a twinkling eye can be darn good medicine.