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Finding love after 50. The website for middle aged singles and senior singles, providing information and dating advice for middle age dating and senior
dating. This column's topic: A week-end date to Woodland Hills, Calif., and to see the Los Angeles Lakers play a game.
Swimming in Woodland Hills: Lakers at Staples Center
Relationships can benefit when couplesget away together.
Two weeks ago, my girlfriend Greta and I went to Woodland Hills on a Saturday afternoon.
Why there? I had entered a Masters swimming meet on Sunday. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Ventura Boulevard.
I've met most of Greta's friends and she's met most of mine. But she had never met my friends Rick and Linda Lenz of Van Nuys. Rick and I went
to high school together in Jackson, Michigan, and traveled throughout Europe in a VW bus in the summer of 1960.
Rick is an actor, screenwriter and author. He starred in the movie, "Cactus Flower" with Goldie Hawn and Walter Matthau.
Linda cooked dinner; she and Greta became immediate friends.
In the small world department: Greta had seen Rick perform with Vera Miles in the play, "Same Time Next Year," in 1973, in the Cabrillo Playhouse in San
Clemente.
I love dogs. Greta is allergic to most breeds. I had resigned myself to the reality that we wouldn't be able to have a dog.
Rick and Linda have a year-old Standard Poodle (one of the breeds Greta's not allergic to) named "Dash." He's one cool pup. He plays the piano and closes
doors on command. We both agreed we'd enjoy having a dog just like Dash someday. Had we not gotten away for the week-end, we probably would have remained dog-less
forever.
Getting away had other benefits.
Normally, we don't spend Sundays together. Personal projects and work demand our time. To have breakfast and read the newspaper in bed is a luxury for
us. Room service it was.
Getting away allowed Greta time to read. While the swim meet was ongoing (Pierce College, Woodland Hills), Greta was immersed in Stephen King's new
memoir, "On Writing."
I swam in five events. Normally, she stands near the side of the pool when I swim, encouraging me not to sink. When I finished the 50-meter backstroke,
she wasn't there. I walked over to where she was seated. She was reading, oblivious to the world of swimming.
"Where have you been?" she said.
"What?" I replied in astonishment, with water dripping off my body, my chest pounding; my arms and legs aching. She was so absorbed in King's book
that she missed the race. She watched me swim in the other four events, however.
For the last stage of our week-end, we took in a Lakers game. We arrived early enough to have dinner at the Fox Sports Skybox restaurant in the Staples Center.
Even that was a unique and fun experience, something that we wouldn't normally do.
During the game, through our binoculars, we spotted Eddie Murphy speaking with Steven Spielberg and Dustin Hoffman speaking with Warren Beatty.
Those guys wrinkle and age just like the rest of us. Jack Nicholson wasn't in his usual seat.
Getting away, if only for a day, can benefit a relationship. It gives couples time to talk about subjects and dreams that usually don't get discussed when they
are occupied with day-to-day stuff at home. Greta has a new friend in Linda, and I…well, about that Standard Poodle.
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