True Love Blooms at The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

In the trailer for the new movie, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,  Judi Dench, in her role as Evelyn, says, “How many new lives can we have?”  Her answer is,  “As many as we like!”  Those lines are the perfect description of my husband Tim’s and my life together.  After a thirty-five year hiatus in which we had separately experienced the soaring successes and searing defeats that describe fully realized lives, we found one another again.  My late husband was succumbing to Alzheimer’s Disease and I was headed for a slow march down the predictable path of widowhood.  Then Tim appeared at my door and a new life began on my front porch.  We astonished a lot of people around us who thought that when one loses a mate the remaining partner should catch up on TV, plant some petunias, become a doting grandparent and call it a day.

Tim and I said to each other, “We can have as many lives as we like,” and we bolted as fast as we could from what people thought was a “normal” life.  We scampered down the aisle (well, walked sedately as we were instructed), and then tried for several years to settle down and live a suburban life,  but we realized we needed more challenge and excitement.  So, after three years we sprinted right out of a beautiful house we had bought, leaving a trail of gasping friends and family in our wake, and we hit the road to live internationally  without the burden of a home base. We’ve had more lives than most people have underwear and we’re not NEARLY finished!  We’re just as much in love as we were the day Tim appeared on that porch.

I’m firmly convinced that taking chances and giving love a second chance have made our lives more richly fulfilling than we could ever have dreamed possible, and we are truly blessed that there’s so much more ahead!

Judi Dench and Bill Nighy, Richard Gere, Maggie Smith and the rest of the cast are all part of a story that brings to life Tim’s and my notion that love can happen at any time, and adventure is always just a moment away.  We can hardly wait to see their stories unfold and enjoy watching Sonny and his bride start their young lives together!

Here’s a peek at the trailer which has tantalized us for weeks.  Fox Searchlight Pictures will release it March 6, and we’ll be at the head of the line, popcorn at the ready!

Just as the characters in the movie, moving forward, celebrating life and postponing nothing are our mantras, so our next project is to build the first best exotic vacation rental house in California.  Oh, no, you may say – here they go again, at 74 and 69, taking on a huge new project, but we see it as a way to use the experience we’ve gained in four years of living on the road. It will be great fun to share it with other travelers when we’re away enjoying new horizons in the world.  I’ll be filling you in on the progress of this new adventure as it unfolds.  We’re thrilled with the idea and hope you’ll enjoy taking the ride with us.  Lord only knows what will be going on in our eighties, but I can assure you that we’ll be on the lookout for a visit to The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and all the places where love, hope and joy dwell!

This post is sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures