My mother called the other night
To say she has a ‘gentleman friend’;
Someone with whom she can share meals.
I said it sounded great —

She’s eighty-four, he’s eighty-two,
His eyes are good and he can drive:
I know that she’s been lonely since
She moved this latest time —

She’s in “assisted living” now;
Her freedom has been quite curtailed;
But now, she has a friend who drives,
And isn’t stuck inside.

The ten years since my father died,
My mom has mostly stayed upbeat:
I’d say it’s hard we’re far away
But she’s there for that reason

So I think that it’s really cool
That she has got herself a beau:
The years go by so quickly, and
You look and time has gone

But life goes also, if we don’t
Take chances, change, and stretch our legs:
Even octagenarians
Can be surprised by fate…