THURSDAY MORNINGS by Ruth Mannino

Author:Ruth Mannino
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-17T13:55:06+00:00

We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.

~ Dr. Seuss

Chapter Five

~Ernie and Gail Gallant~

Looking out from the stage on Thursday mornings, there is a couple that stands out for their big smiles and the twinkle in their eyes. Gail and Ernie Gallant are an example of second chance love and what it can do for you. Their story is one of hope, and just how far humor can take us when hit with the inevitable hardships life throws our way. Both were married and raised families before losing their spouses and finding each other. Each told me their story, sometimes interrupting each other and sometimes finishing each other’s sentences. Theirs is an engaging love story.

They first met in 1964, each in their first marriages. Ernie was visiting his friends, Grace and Pinky Rossier, who lived behind Gail in Trenton, New Jersey. His kids played with Gail’s kids. Fast forward fifty years, and we see Gail waiting for a line dance class to begin at the Hamilton Senior Center. Upon hearing the beginners class was canceled, she sat on a bench outside, waiting for the more advanced class to arrive. Her gaze was on the floor when she saw a pair of loafers; looked up and saw a cowboy shirt; looked further and saw Ernie’s smile. Gail explained she always had an affinity for cowboy shirts.

Ernie obviously liked what he saw and sat next to Gail on the bench. After introductions, her maiden name Nissen came up in conversation. Ernie worked with a ‘Don Nissen’ in public service, any relation? Yes, Don was Gail’s brother. What were the odds!

Two weeks passed before Gail felt Ernie was “safe,” and asked him over for dinner. When Ernie responded he needed to check his calendar and would get back to her, Gail thought, “Oh boy, one of those.” That night Ernie was at the Robert Wood Johnson fitness center, across from Gail’s house. He called and asked Gail if he could stop over. She thought it was too late to make him dinner, but agreed to see him. He was soon sitting in her armchair with his coat on, and they talked for hours. Following came one and a half years of talking, including breakfast at Fame Restaurant in Hamilton where Gail met Ernie’s friends. Things got serious and they began to stay over at each other’s houses. At the two year mark, they were a couple and soon Ernie asked Gail to marry him. “What do you think if we got married?” October 3rd, 2015 they tied the knot. They were a young seventy-eight and eighty-one years old on their wedding day. They decided to sell Gail’s house and live in Ernie’s. She was a widow for nine years prior to meeting him and had no intention of ever leaving her house, but Ernie changed everything.

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