David and Leah Law were doing some floor exercises together at their East Bremerton home recently when David turned to his new bride and exclaimed: "It feels good to be 22 again, doesn't it?"
The pair, both in their 80s, laughed, but the sentiment rang true. Following long marriages in which their partners died, they found new love, marrying this spring. And, in an interview with the Kitsap Sun just before Christmas, David and Leah said that love shows no signs of wavering.
"It's been an incredible experience," Leah said. "We're blessed to be together."
A chance encounter at Fred Meyer in June 2016 set the stage for a late-life romance. David asked Leah to coffee and she accepted. One date led to another. In April, the couple officially tied the knot in a ceremony in Port Gamble surrounded by family.
They've discovered, in their union, they make each other better.
Leah says the highly curious David can "fix anything" and opened her mind to new knowledge. When he moved into her Canterbury Manor apartment, he put knobs on the kitchen cabinets. He's installed towel racks. New LED lights make it easier for her to see.
"This man is incredible," she said. "He sees something and says 'We could make this work better.' So he does."
David says Leah has made his life far more active with exercise and spending time with her family, which is bigger and younger than David's. She encouraged him to get cochlear implants to hear better. And now, some of Leah's grandchildren and great-grandchildren called David "pops" and "grandpa."
"She's expanded my horizons quite a bit," he said. "My life is a lot more active."
Through it all, there's still romance.
"I like to hug and she likes to be hugged," he said, before offering his wife a smooch on the lips.