Unfortunately, the chance of living alone increases with age.
Hugh and Meg Darling show it is never too late for romance.
Hugh, 88, and Meg, 90, fell for each other while working side-by-side at Anglicare Hopetoun Village in Castle Hill, 34km northwest of Sydney CBD.
It was a bit of a surprise for them both as neither had romance in mind when they retired to the village. But after months of working together, Hugh asked Meg to go to a ball with him, and they’ve now been married for 11 years.
Hugh said the joy and fulfilment you get from a relationship is unparalleled, but it requires a give-and-take that required patience and dedication.
“So advice to young people, look, my advice would be you’re never too old, but the older you get, you get very set in your ways and age is not as easy as perhaps it would have been when you were younger,” he said.
“I think one of the important things is that you’ve got to have common interests and certainly from my point of view, the same sort of standards in terms of social contact, how you conduct yourself and those sort of things … you have to be patient with each other …. the give and take is something I think is very important … and I think you need to be sure of your relationship too”.
“The joy and the pleasure you get out of companionship is something really very special. But the other thing is you have to work at it. It doesn’t just happen, you know, overnight.”
They have an early morning cuppa together each day and believe the key to being happy is to be there for each other.
Meg said it was never too late to find your special someone, but be prepared to put the work in.
“I think you are never too old to start a relationship, but it doesn’t come easily and I think you’ve got to put a lot of thought into it before you do so. But I suppose you’re never too old to have, you know, a special relationship with somebody else.”