Love on the North Shore
In 2006, I published a memoir titled, "Prime Rib and Boxcars. Whatever Happened to Victoria Station?" The book was based on eight years in my life in the
1970s working for the train car restaurant chain Victoria Station, which in its heyday had more than 100 restaurants in the USA and Canada.
Link to Victoria Station book.
The most gratifying aspect of the book project was hearing from nearly 400 former Victoria Station employees who shared their thoughts on working there.
Many of them said it was the most exciting time of their lives.
One of the respondents was a woman named Holly. She had been the executive secretary to Victoria Station's president. We had been out of touch for 31
years.
Holly joined our newsletter group a few months ago. She was single and starting a new phase of her life living on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii.
In the last four months, Holly's life has changed and she agreed to share her story--in person, a week ago tonight--at a restaurant called Kaneohe Joe's, in
Kaneohe, Hawaii. Greta and I were visiting Greta's daughter, Tammi, and her husband, Stephen, who live on the Marine Corps Base at Kaneohe Bay, a half hour from
Honolulu.
In October, 2006, Holly met a man named Jack on Match.com. She said, "He was 59, a firefighter on the North Shore and had lived in Hawaii over 30
years. He had been separated for a few months and decided that week to go online and check out the dating scene.
"He signed in on a trial basis. I wrote to him; he was surprised because I was the first person he'd heard from. We exchanged photos, talked on the phone a
few times, and then got together within a week.
"I was babysitting for my newborn goddaughter all weekend when he drove over to see me. I couldn't go out anywhere with the baby, so we sat on the beach
across from my condo and talked for hours. Nothing had ever felt so natural for me. It was as if I'd known him forever.
"We saw each other a lot the next couple of days, and everything went great. He said he couldn't believe how right we felt together. He took his profile off
Match.com."
Although Jack and his estranged wife were good friends, they had no plans to reconcile. The separation had been her idea. When Jack told his wife about
Holly, the wife had a change of heart and wanted to get back together. Jack told Holly he needed to give his marriage another try.
"I was terribly disappointed. He apologized, I told him I understood, that of course he should try to save his marriage. I told him not to contact me unless things
didn't work out and he was divorced. I didn't want to interfere with their reconciliation and I couldn't go through that hurt again," Holly said.
During the next 12 months, Holly popped into the fire station one time to show Jack the goddaughter. Another time they also ran into each other at the grocery store. But that
was it.
Holly said, "That year was very difficult for me because everyone I dated I compared to him. My girlfriends were surprised because I had never liked anyone
else that much, and we had 'dated' such a short time.
"I received an email from him a year later. The subject line said, 'Jack is back.' He was separated again and his wife had already met someone else.
"I wasn't going to see him at first. But a couple of my girlfriends said: 'He was just doing the right thing for his marriage. Give him credit for being honest and
having the courage to admit it didn't work out.'"
They met for lunch in late September. "We talked and talked. I was surprised by his sensitivity and honesty. He said he'd thought about me a lot, but he
gave everything he had to try to make the marriage work; and it just didn't.
"He wanted to see me again, and this time we could actually go out on a real date because I didn't have a baby to take care of. We've been together ever
since."
Jack and his wife divorced amicably in December.
Holly officially moved in with Jack two weeks ago. "I have no idea whether marriage is in the picture for us. It doesn't matter. I was happy the last few years
when I was on my own, but I am even happier now," said Holly.
Their story is the second romance-found story among our Hawaii newsletter members in the last few months. Carlene and "the man in the kilt" were featured
last May. Perhaps, it's something about the air in Hawaii.
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