As Time Goes By
by Abigail Traffordc.2009, Basic Books $25.95 / $30.00 Canada
275 pages
The first few notes of the song begin, and his eyes meet hers from across the room. Shyly, they smile.
It's their wedding day, and this is "their song." She leaves her guests and approaches her new husband. He takes her hand, and they dance.
Like any wedding, there are toasts and dancing children, a thrown bouquet and tearful moments, cutting the cake and tender kisses.
But starry-eyed love isn't just for teenagers and twenty-somethings. This is his second marriage. It's her third. And they're both in their 80s.
In the new book "As Time Goes By," author Abigail Trafford examines love, loss, and loving again in the second half of life.
Once upon a time, when the average human lifespan was 50 years, people married young and stayed "til death do you part." Now, at a time when we can live four decades past that old milestone, relationships in the second half of life can give us a second chance at love.
But it's not easy. Trafford calls later love, "The Big Churn." The kids are gone and it's just the two of you again. Everything is old, and it's all new. You want to stay together but need separate lives. Past roles have flip-flopped. It's like an amusement park ride that both scares and thrills you to death.
If you've ever been in love, if you are struck by the fact that the number of years you have left are fewer than the number of years you've lived, or if you're looking anew at an old relationship, you need this book. "As Time Goes By" is simply engaging. §
Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives with her two dogs and 11,000 books.
