Guest blog from Evelyn De Wolfe

It’s never too late for love and passion, even in one’s eighties. Nor is it too late to share it in a memoir, when that experience turns out to be the most romantic in our lives. Yet, having never tackled this mode of self-expression before, I was daunted by the thought of publically revealing the intimacies between two seniors.

Friends finally convinced me that my unusual late-life love affair was added proof that love, though perishable is ageless. I am glad I allowed myself to be convinced because now having preserved something so rare and fragile has allowed me, and continues to allow me, to relive the beauty and depth of the emotions I experienced with Juan.

I went browsing with some trepidation in bookstores searching for how-to memoir books that would offer guidelines on how to free my imprisoned shyness and reluctance to expose my passionate vulnerable nature.  A memoir must always be truthful to be believable and I set forth in good faith, with no set deadlines and mindful that I would simply tell my story as in conversation with a friend and keep it honest.  It turned out to be a journey of self-discovery.

I singled out Tristine Rainer’s book Your Life as Story  that amazingly and clearly answered every soul-wrenching question on my mind. The process of unraveling deep romantic feelings became an extraordinary adventure.  Like the gentling and training of a wild mustang – it took, patience to get my passion down in words and had its setbacks, moments of exasperation which made me doubt my ability as a writer.  In the end, though, the writing made me know myself better, both my strengths and frailties, while, remarkably, unleashing inhibitions that most girls of my generation were governed by and dared not trespass.

In my latest book titled  “Five Honeymoons …A True Love Story”, two kindred spirits who loved each other as kids are serendipitously reunited after 65 years  and find that falling passionately in love in late life is just as breathtaking as in younger years … even when age, distance, and the pain of separation stand in their way.

During my five-year romance with Juan we only met five times, in spectacular romantic settings – the precious honeymoons that inspired the title of the book.  Romantic love such as Juan and I shared has been played throughout the ages, throughout the world, at every level … the only difference being that each story stands alone and can never be duplicated. Each bears its own unrepeatable imprint.

I’m finding, now that the task is completed and the book in print, the satisfactions of offering, in a world so filled with negativity, my celebration of unexpected love and romance. (The author welcomes comments: evie2000@dslextreme.com. Her website can be viewed at www.readevelyn.com .)