Today, Beverly lives in California. She’s still close with all her old friends — from the ones who sat there, unbelieving, at her wedding, to the people she met in Mexico, on the yachts.
She’s even, perhaps against the odds, become good friends with her ex-boyfriend Doug in recent years.
Beverly had always felt a bit guilty about how they’d ended things. When they got back in touch, she apologized, even though it was decades ago, and she’d lived a whole life with Bob in the meantime.
Doug told her, “You don’t need forgiveness.”
This year, Beverly turns 80 and she’s going on a cruise around Alaska with Doug to celebrate.
“We’re both born the same month,” she says.
When she thinks back on her decade-spanning romance with Bob, Beverly often finds herself reflecting on a conversation she had with her father on her wedding day — right after Bob had wowed everyone with his heartfelt, emotional toast.
“He said to me, when I got married, ‘I can’t imagine much worse than my only daughter going away to a foreign country, floating around on a boat, not being able to contact her, not knowing where she is or if she’s safe,’” Beverly recalls.
“But then he said, ‘I looked at the two of you and… I didn’t want to stop you, because I could see how much you cared.’ And so, I mean, how lucky can someone be? And to be able to have 50 years? It’s just unbelievable when you think about it. I’m just so glad that I took a chance.”
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