‘Luckiest day of my life.’ SLO County residents share love stories for Valentine’s Day
It’s time again for hearts, flowers, chocolates and eye-blinkingly expensive jewelry.
Gifts for St. Valentine’s Day have been in the stores since Thanksgiving, and yes, some of them are absolutely cliche.
My advice? Don’t ever get your loved one a vacuum cleaner for V-Day, even if they asked for one. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself spending Feb. 14 alone in a metaphorical doghouse.
Gift cards are off the list, too, especially between spouses, lovers and hope-to-be lovers. Nothing says “I don’t know you, and I don’t care to” like a gift card.
Valentine’s Day meaning varies by age
For a day dedicated to love, Valentine’s Day brings forth so many different emotions and actions.
A child might associate the holiday with chocolate, a fun dinner with the family and greeting cards to share with every kid in their class. and bubbling excitement if your crush asks you to dance.
Is there anything cuter than two first graders dancing together?
For a preteen or teen, Valentine’s Day can be a time of incredible angst and raging hormones. Will he ask? Will she say yes? What will my Valentine do or not do?
For young single adults, the holiday is hunting season.
For married couples in their 20s and beyond, whether the day is sweet and sentimental or absolutely awful depends on the state of their union and their determination to have a lovely day of it.
For all of us, Valentine’s Day is a time of memories, good and sad.
Many adults, no matter how old they are or what their romantic status is, have at least some memories of lovely Valentine’s Days.
My friends Evelyn and Bob Morales, owners of El Chorlito Mexican Restaurant in San Simeon, took it one step further decades ago and got married on Feb. 14.
Sadly, Bob passed away two years ago, but Evelyn cherishes her memories of her late husband, often sharing them on Facebook.
Consuelo Macedo also frequently shares memories of her late spouse.
During the many years that her husband, Richard Macedo, worked with San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Shirley Bianchi, he gained a reputation of caring about and for many.
Before he died, he told his wife that “he would ‘look out after me,’ ” she wrote via email. “I sense his presence especially when I am driving the most hazardous parts of my trips to the Central San Joaquin Valley and back. But I get immediate gratification when I get always get a parking place right in front of any place wherever I need, just like he unfailingly did in his lifetime. Then I always say, ‘Thank you, Richard’ ... or I know he won’t do it the next time. Truth.”
SLO County residents share love stories
Five dogs were the cupids that brought me and my late husband Richard together.
It’s one of my favorite memories of all our wonderful times together in the 44 years we were married. He died two years ago.
Those years of memories are such a comfort now.
For more romance, I turned to my friends, including San Luis Obispo County residents, and asked them to share their experiences. Those stories prove that finding love is anything but predictable.
Jim Major, whose wife Roberta died in March after a very short but intense battle with Alzheimer’s disease, found a lovely new relationship online after Roberta’s daughter suggested that he go on a dating website for older singles, SilverSingles.com.
“One day, I got a message from MJ,” he said via phone. “We communicated back and forth for a few days before she asked where I live. I answered, ‘I live in Cambria.’ ”
Mary Joe “M.J.” Lichty was surprised and laughed, telling Major that “my very best friend used to live there and then she moved to Hawaii.”
He replied, “Oh, you must mean Mary O’Neill! I used to pay pickleball with her.”
According to Major, Litchy and O’Neill’s pilot husbands used to fly together in a rescue team.
Six months ago, Litchy came to Cambria to visit Major.
“She was over here last weekend, and I go to Visalia to visit her,” he said.
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Little League, cycling and dog walking bring couples together
A Little League team was the connection for Jennifer and Harvey Smith about 45 years ago, she said by text.
“My daughter was in his League Team,” Jennifer Smith explained. “After a three-week whirlwind romance, we got married.”
They moved to Cambria soon thereafter, raised a family and founded Harvey’s Honey Huts.
Steve and Cathy Brody met near an ice cream shop in 1971, he wrote in an email.
“I struck up a conversation with this beauty outside The Campus Malt Shop at (UC Irvine) and asked her if she’d like to go bicycling,” he said. “It was the luckiest day of my life.”
“We cycled from her folks‘ house in Santa Monica along (Highway 1) to Malibu (she passing me on the hills … that should have been a clue!), and didn’t come back until four days later,” Steve Brody said. “We moved in together six weeks after that, and made it legal on July 15 the following year. Been together ever since.”
“The moral of the story is: If you meet the Buddha on the road, marry her,” he said.
Dianne Goodwin found romance five years ago.
“I was a relatively new widow, in a small walking group in the Leffingwell area. We all walked our dogs,” Goodwin recalled. “A recent widower joined our group. I befriended him to pay it forward. So many people helped me when my husband died, so I knew Mark would need a shoulder to cry on ... We agreed politically and had lots of fun.
“Friendship turned to love,” she said. “We married three years ago.”
Jenni Pinney’s story proves that a relationship can be better the second time around.
“My boyfriend and I met in 1986 in Cambria,” she said via Facebook. “We were together for just over two years, then went our separate ways.”
“We hadn’t talked for 28 years, but one day I decided to look him up on Google,” Pinney continued. “I found a phone number and texted it.”
She got an astonishing reply: “This isn’t Bryan; it’s his ex-wife. But I’m sure he’d love to hear from you. Here’s his number.”
“I texted him and he called me the next day,” Pinney said. “Within three weeks, he drove down to California and brought me back to Washington with him. I’ve been here over three years now.”
It was “true love!” she said. “We just needed time to mature.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2023 at 5:35 AM.
