It's been a heck of a month, but I'm back on the blog! And in honor of Valentine's Day, I want to share some stories of love and marriage to all the readers, including one from the dedicated older bud Diane:
Diane Richardson
05.24.2022
Wedding on a Beach
This is a picture of my oldest daughter Tara and her husband Christian. They were married on the beach in the Bahamas. You can see in the picture what a beautiful day it was. They have now been married for ten years with one child named Chase. You remember Chase. He’s the grandson who said the little boy across the hall came and got the bag of candy. Tara is a Harvard graduate and Chris is a retired military police officer who is now the head of the probation and parole department of PA. His office is in Harrisburg in the state building. They purchased an apartment building in Harrisburg near the state building, so he won’t have to commute from their home in Voorhees, NJ to Harrisburg. The purchase of the apartment building is an investment property as they own several properties (rental.) Tara enjoys going to Harrisburg to stay with Chris. She says it’s like having a “bunch of mini honeymoons.” She flies back and forth on a regular basis as she flies for free. Tia, her sister, works as a flight attendant for US Air so she flies for free as I do. The flight is only twenty minutes. She sits in first class, eats, drinks, and she’s there. When Chase is not in school, she will take him, and they would stay for a few days. We stayed in the Bahamas for a week for the wedding at an all-inclusive resort. We had a blast. Next time, I’ll tell y’all about my other daughter Tia’s wedding.
Gloria Nhambiu
05.10.2022
On Keeping My Maiden Name
I started my employment with the Philadelphia Department of Public Welfare on March 3, 1964. I was dating my husband to be. We were married on September 13, 1964. I continued my employment there but never made a name change. My supervisor at the time was a wonderful older lady who felt she must bring me the forms for a “name change.” I told her I had not planned to change my name.
Several of my girlfriends and I had decided that we would keep using our maiden names. Well my supervisor mentioned several times that I should fill out the name change forms. I didn’t think much about this. I kept calling myself Miss Purnell. In fact I was saying Mrs. Purnell. My coworkers (many of whom had been at my wedding) and my clients knew I had married and still called me Miss Purnell.
Finally one pay day in the spring I got a paycheck with my married name on it. When I questioned this I was told that I had sent the forms in. When I checked further I learned that my supervisor had taken it upon herself to change my name. During the spat that followed my supervisor told me what she had done. Then told me I should be proud to be married. After some arguments I let it go but I did ask that management speak to my supervisor about overstepping her boundaries. I also learned that she had never been married.
Our relationship was never the same as before. After talking to my husband about it he kind of liked that I would carry his name.
If you want to transcribe for Best Day, then email us at info@bestdayofmylifesofar.org. You can also share our older buds' adventures by donating to Best Day, subscribing to our newsletter, sending a note to our older buds, or following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And if you or the older buds have any stories of love and/or marriage, then you or they can submit stories through our portal right here. We're especially interested to stories from Black older buds, but we're always looking for stories from older buds of color, older buds with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ older buds, older buds of any gender or sex, older buds of any religion, and older buds who just plain break the mold.
And don't forget to maintain contact with the older buds in your life. If you can't be there in person, please call them, email them, or message them on social media. And if they're using teleconferencing or remote events for the first time, give them a call and help them set things up. Check in on them to see how well they're getting used to these programs. Buy them a computer or an internet package if they don't have one of their own. It's a human right, after all.
Curated by Caitlin Cieri