MAY 1993: NO AGE LIMIT ON ROMANCE; LOVE BLOOMS AT RETIREMENT HOME.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
Rose Dorman, 103, elbowed Ann Abrams, 84, at the breakfast table last December, whispering a few words that would turn the widow's world upside down. ``See that fella?'' Rose said, nodding at a nearby table in the dining room at the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda. ``He's got a crush on you.'' ``What are you talking about, Rose?'' Ann said, dropping her fork into her eggs. ``I'm telling you, he's got a crush on you,'' Rose whispered again. ``I can tell.'' ``What do you know about crushes at your age?'' Ann said, smiling as she picked her fork back up. ``Hey, we had crushes back in the 1800s, too,'' Rose answered, feigning indignation. Ann Abrams laughed, turning her head slightly to catch a glimpse Verb 1. catch a glimpse - see something for a brief time catch sight, get a look see - perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight; "You have to be a good observer to see all the details"; "Can you see the bird in that tree?"; "He is blind--he of Hy ``Spike'' Spikel, 84, smiling at her like a lovesick love·sick adj. 1. So deeply affected by love as to be unable to act normally. 2. Exhibiting a lover's yearning. love schoolboy. ``By golly gol·ly interj. Used to express mild surprise or wonder. [Alteration of God.] golly interj an exclamation of mild surprise [originally a euphemism for , he is looking at me,'' Ann thought to herself, avoiding the stare of this young whippersnapper whip·per·snap·per n. A person regarded as insignificant and pretentious. [Alteration (influenced by whip) of dialectal snippersnapper. giving her the eye. Just friendly Five hundred people sit down for breakfast every morning in this dining room, Ann knew - 475 women and 25 men. What were the odds? Nah, no way. The guy's just being friendly to all the ladies, that's all. She was wrong. Spike Spikel says he'd had his eye on the dish at the next table for a few months, trying to work up the courage to talk to her. He could tell by eavesdropping Secretly gaining unauthorized access to confidential communications. Examples include listening to radio transmissions or using laser interferometers to reconstitute conversations by reflecting laser beams off windows that are vibrating in synchrony to the sound in the room. on the conversation at her table that she was a woman with a good heart, plenty of compassion, who liked to laugh at stupid jokes. Spike had no shortage of stupid jokes he liked to spread around the home to liven li·ven tr. & intr.v. li·vened, li·ven·ing, li·vens To make or become more lively: liven up a party; a discussion that livened up. things up. After you've been married for 59 years to the same woman who you lost after a long, painful final year of daily hospital visits, laughter and friendship were the only elixir elixir /elix·ir/ (e-lik´ser) a clear, sweetened, alcohol-containing, usually hydroalcoholic liquid containing flavoring substances and sometimes active medicinal ingredients. e·lix·ir n. that seemed to work anymore, the only thing that made him want to continue living. Love again? Out of the question, Spike thought. But what was it about the woman at the next table that made him smile like a lovesick schoolboy, he wondered? He'd have to find out. Ann Abrams was wondering, too. She'd have to find out, she told herself. Eavesdropping ``I began eavesdropping on the talk at Hy's table,'' she said. ``He seemed to have a wonderful sense of humor Noun 1. sense of humor - the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor" sense of humour, humor, humour and a kind nature. And his looks weren't too bad, either. ``He finally got brave one day and walked over to our table,'' Ann said Monday, counting the days on one hand until she steps to the altar again after being a widow for 43 years. ``Good morning, ladies,'' Spike Spikel said. Rose elbowed Ann again. ``See I told you,'' the smug look on her face said. It went on this way for a few more weeks, Spike bidding good morning to all the ladies while fixing his warmest smile on Ann Abrams. Pretty soon, she was eating a little slower, positioning herself to be the last to leave the breakfast table. Spike began eating slower, too. He was no dummy. ``We began to sit and talk after breakfast, learning about each other's lives,'' Ann said. About his four children and his career as a kosher kosher [Heb.,=proper, i.e., fit for use], in Judaism, term used in rabbinic literature to mean what is ritually correct, but most widely applied to food that is in accordance with dietary laws based on Old Testament passages (primarily Lev. 11 and Deut. 14). butcher. About her one daughter and her years of charity work. `How about you?' Friendly chatter, nothing more. Until the cold, rainy afternoon in January when Ann looked out her window and saw Spike walking the grounds, shivering shivering /shiv·er·ing/ (shiv´er-ing) 1. involuntary shaking of the body, as with cold. 2. a disease of horses, with trembling or quivering of various muscles. shivering see shiver, stringhalt. from the cold. ``She came outside with a sweater for me and suggested that I find a girlfriend to keep me warm,'' Spike said, with a laugh. ``I thought about it for a moment, and said, `How about you?' `` So when the official day of love arrived this year, Spike Spikel slid a box of chocolates and a valentine across the breakfast table at Ann Abrams, and the look in their eyes said there was no fooling themselves anymore. They were in love. Vegas honeymoon ``So, that's what happened to this little old lady,'' Ann said Monday, preparing for her marriage to Hy ``Spike'' Spikel this weekend at the home before leaving for a honeymoon in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. . ``Never in a million years did I dream something like this would happen,'' she says, squeezing the hand of the man who sharp-eyed, 103-year-old Rose Dorman had scoped out perfectly. The guy at the next breakfast table with a schoolboy crush. ``I guess there's no age limit on love, huh?'' Ann Abrams says. No, thank goodness - no age limit at all. |
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