Celebrate Valentine’s Day

You may choose to spend Valentine’s Day with someone special, share it with friends or enjoy the day on your own. Here are a few local events that will make the day one to remember.

Valentine’s in the Garden

Saturday, Feb. 10, 7-11 p.m. Enjoy an elegant evening of music, dancing, specialty cocktails, desserts and beautiful orchids at the most romantic spot in the city. Atlanta Botanical Garden, 1345 Piedmont Ave., Atlanta 30309. Visit atlantabg.org for further info.

Valentine’s Social iHeart Bingo and Drama Skit

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 11 a.m.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Decatur Active Living. There’ll be music, arts and crafts, refreshments and much more. Decatur Recreation Center, 231 Sycamore St., Decatur 30030. City of Decatur’s Active Living Division, 404-377-0494; beactivedecatur.com.

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 1-3 p.m. Get your friends together for this fun-filled afternoon of bingo, food and laughter. The senior center’s own Footloose Players Drama Club will perform a skit and a light lunch will be served. Cost is $6 for Cobb residents, $8 for nonresidents; this is a fundraiser to benefit C. Freeman Poole Center. Freeman Poole Senior Center, 4025 S. Hurt Rd., Smyrna 30082, 770-8013400; cobbcounty.org.

Romance from 50 to Forever

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 10-11:50 a.m. This class, designed for people in their 50s and beyond, is held every Wednesday at the Lou Walker Center. Explore ways to have a happy, healthy and harmonious relationship, whether you’re married, in a long-term relationship, widowed, divorced or single. Lou Walker Center, 2538 Panola Rd., Lithonia 30058, 770-322-2900; louwalkercenter.com.

Stories from the Heart

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. We all have inspirational stories that warm our heart, so let’s share them. Led by Debbie Morgan with lunch from Taco Mac. Cost is $10 for Cobb residents, $12 for non-residents; this is a fundraiser to benefit West Cobb Center. West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Hwy., Powder Springs, 30127, 770-5288200; cobbcounty.org.

Valentine DIY Treasures and Treats

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.

Join Leah Wilson and Terri Carter from Cobb County/UGA

Cooperative Extension Services for some Valentine do-it-yourself. Leah teaches how to recycle mason jars into cute gifts, while Terri shows how to prepare Valentine goodies. Supplies are provided. Cost is $5 for Cobb residents, $6 for non-residents. Senior Wellness Center, 1150 Powder Springs St., Ste. 100, Marietta 30064, 770-528-5355; cobbcounty.org.

A Very Vegas Valentine

Friday, Feb. 16, 8-10 p.m. Doors and piano bar open at 7 p.m. Sometimes, what happens in Vegas…comes to Marietta! Hometown girl and Las Vegas headlining singer Laura Wright returns to Marietta with her fiancé and Las Vegas headlining comedian

Anthony Padilla for a night of laughter, song, stories and romance. This is an 18+ show with special ticket pricing for couples. Tickets are $35, main floor; $25, balcony; and $60 for couples. Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre, 117 Park Square, Marietta 30060, 770-293-0080; earlsmithstrand.org.

By Grace Huseth

Phil winked. Carole’s eyes twinkled. He didn’t notice the crinkles around her eyes, she didn’t notice his bifocals. They only had eyes for each other. Even though Phil and Carole aren’t spring chicks, they are in puppy love.

“I stood there waiting for the elevator to come down. When it opened up, Carole walked out. It was the beginning of our relationship,” Phil said.

Phil Cohen declared he was drawn to Carole Goldberg at first sight, right there in the lobby of Somerby Senior Living in Sandy Springs. He’s not telling a sappy story—Carole agreed there was something inexplicable about the first time the pair locked eyes.

“It just came. I can’t tell you, it was serendipitous,” Carole confirmed. “It was effortless for the both of us and we became good friends.”

Finding companionship as a senior may seem hard, but many couples find dating more freeing in their later years. Just as daily responsibilities become less pressing, dating rules become less important. For some, retirement brings romance—you just have to open yourself up to take part.

Last spring, Carole had no intention of finding another companion. However, she said Phil backs up her values and reminds her of her priorities. The couple’s commitment to companionship is only exceeded by their compassion for one another.

“When its comfort, you know it,” Carole said. “We are both experienced enough to know what comfort feels like.”

The octogenarian love birds are realistic and call their time together precious. “It isn’t like you are going to look forward to a long life together. This is it,” Carole said. “For us, it’s important to stay in the moment and not try to predict the future. I feel very blessed to have a companion in my life.”

If Phil and Carole’s relationship was founded in comfortable companionship, couple Joel and Charlotte’s relationship developed from a coincidence.

Joel Horowitz, also a resident at Somerby Senior Living, met Charlotte at the community’s senior speed dating event last fall. Neither baby boomer intended to find romance, only attending to take a chance and meet new people.

At the event, 20 participants rotated between 10 tables for four minutes of quick introductions. Joel made an impression on Charlotte in mere minutes.

“He talks just like my cousin from New York, who I think the world of,” Charlotte said. “He’s a good listener and he’s not quick to judge.”

The odds of meeting Joel any other way would have been slim. “You don’t know when you are going to meet someone who is compatible, so you’ve got to do it when it happens.” and Charlotte are not just companions, but confidants. When Joel told Charlotte about the journey he had made many years ago to track down his birth family, she understood it more than the average person. For the past 10 years, Charlotte has co-facilitated a support group for mothers, a majority of whom had adopted children.

As they talked, Joel and Charlotte found more coincidental similarities. Joel’s calling to work with children in special education and individuals with autism echoed Charlotte’s career in counseling those on the spectrum.

“I am very familiar with adoption issues and I understood his being curious and wondering why his mom would give him up,”

Joel gained a second mother for nearly a decade before she passed away. “When you’re adopted, you always wonder where you came from. It meant a lot to me and [Charlotte] has been empathetic and understanding. She even gets excited every time I tell her something,” Joel said.

Both Joel and Charlotte value family and do not lack in close family relationships. Two of Joel’s children live in Atlanta, and both of Charlotte’s sons live within minutes of her. The couple enhance each other’s lives by adding extra companionship, and their families enthusiastically approve.

“My daughter thinks it’s a hoot, she thinks it’s really neat,” Joel said.

“At a certain point you start to wonder,