Sam and Hope - 16

There are those who think there's no way a teenager could know what love really is.  But many a wise person, including William Shakespeare, would disagree.  Juliet was more tween than teen when she fell for her Romeo.  And while not quite Verona, Hayward's Ice Cream in Nashua, New Hampshire, has been the summer setting for the young and the smitten for more than 70 years.

Q. Do you think you know what love is? And if so, what is it?

A. "Absolutely," said Sam.  "It's got nothing to do with age. It's any feeling which brings two humans together.  Love is a connection.  I know more about her than I do about myself.  Love is literally everything." Hope also is sure that she knows what love is.  "Love is Sam," she said without missing a beat. "When I first loved him as a friend, I thought he was perfect. Then when I started dating him I found out he wasn't perfect and I loved him more."

Nashua, N.H.

Ben and Michaela

There are those who think there's no way a teenager could know what love really is.  But many a wise person, including William Shakespeare, would disagree.  Juliet was more tween than teen when she fell for her Romeo.  And while not quite Verona, Hayward's Ice Cream in Nashua has been the summer setting for the young and the smitten for more than 70 years.  Ben, 18 and Michaela, 17 just starting dating.

Q. Do you think you know what love is? And if so, what is it?

A. "I don't know if I know," said Michaela. "But if I had to guess, I'd say it's when you care more about another person than you do about yourself." Ben said,  "I think I know. What love is for me is the feeling of emotion and attraction to a person - to the entire person with every fiber of your soul."

Q. What do you like most about each other?
A. "He makes me laugh," said Michaela. "She's cute as a button," said Ben.

Nashua, N.H.

Jean and David

Jean lost her husband to cancer in 2006.  When a friend suggested she would some day love again, she said, "I'm not interested. I already had the best.” Jean is now engaged to David, a divorcee. They are pictured above in their home in Nashua, NH.

Q.  How did it feel when you realized you fell in love again?

A.  I thought, “This is shocking, because I never thought it would happen again.”  I remember a friend of mine saying, “Do you know you are in love with David?" And I said, “I am?”  So I thought about it for a moment and I said, “Yeah, I guess I am. What a gift.” 

Nashua, N.H.

S-HAIRING THE LOVE

Q. What does hair have to do with love?

Let us count the ways. Students from Continental Academie of Hair Design in Hudson, New Hampshire like Ashley (left) and Rebecca, showed their love of community by volunteering a whole Saturday afternoon doing hair for the school's first-ever Unified Buddy Ball Candy Land Extravaganza.

A. "When your hair looks good nothing can stop you. It helps you love yourself and nothing is more powerful than that," said Rebecca. "If your hair looks the way you want," said Ashley, "it boosts your inner love and that love shows on the outside.

Hudson N.H.

*Stay tuned for the next post of Heart Beat Bloggers for photos from the Unified Ball.

Liz and Nicole

Liz and Nicole are getting married in November in front of 200 of their closest friends and family; but first there's the sweet ritual of the cake tasting. Certainly there will be more complicated decisions to be made during the course of their lives together, but few will be so rich in anticipation and butter cream. It was at Jacques Fine European Pastries in Suncook, New Hampshire that we asked the couple about the multi-layered confection that is matrimony.

Q. Why get married? Why not just live together?

A. "I don't want a roommate. I want a life partner," said Liz (left). For Nicole it's a no brainer. "You can cohabitate or you can solidify your partnership - literally sharing everything with each other for the rest of our lives."

Pembroke, N.H.

Tarah

Q. How does it feel to see yourself in full wedding regalia for the first time?

Tarah got married today. A month ago we were watching her try on her gown for the last time before the big day. Such joy. Such a smile. It was almost too bright to look at without sunglasses. 

Today only Tarah’s brand-new husband, Ryan, was the one to warm in that smile’s glow. The pair chose to share their nuptials on a beach in Jamaica with just one another, the sand, the sea and the sky as witnesses.

Four weeks ago it was her friends gathered on a cushy couch and her mom in Florida, via FaceTime watching the 25-year-old hair stylist twirl in front of a wall of mirrors at a bridal shop in Bedford, New Hampshire. That's when she answered the question without hesitation.

A. “Amazing. I was worried about the butt, before it was altered, but it’s not too tight and the boobs look good.” Everyone present in the flesh and on line laughed, but wholeheartedly agreed. Tarah would be a stunning bride on the beach. Tarah would be a stunning bride on a football field. Tarah would be a stunning bride just about anywhere. Her beauty secret was no secret. Pure, unadulterated love.

Bedford, N.H.

Debbie and Dean

“Jerry Springer has nothing on us,” said Dean, who first met, Debbie, when she was 15. She was his best friend’s girlfriend. A few years later Debbie introduced Dean to her older sister.

“We all got married in a double wedding when we were in our 20s,” said Debbie who along with Dean on this chilly day, were selling prom dresses and bridesmaid gowns at the Londonderry Flea Market. So to get this straight. Dean married Debbie's sister and Debbie married Dean's best friend.

And in an act that could be considered a portent of the future, the preacher got the couples mixed up. 

“Her first child is my godson,” said Dean.

“And my ex is the godfather to Dean’s oldest son.”

After a while both couples divorced. Both Debbie and Dean started dating other people.

“I swore I’d never marry again,” said Dean. 

Truth be told, said Dean, “My ex (Debbie’s sister) pushed us together. So  years later Dean asked Debbie out.  The first date – sharing cheese fries at a restaurant in a lighthouse in Maine. The couple still has an ashtray from that date as a memento.

“From then on I schmoozed her,” said Dean, who has worked as a sheet metalist or “tin knocker” most of his life.

“We were just looking at our love letters last night,” said Debbie.

And that resolve never to marry again? Out the window.

Debbie and Dean wed in June, 2001.

Dean laughs. “I didn’t want to get to know a whole new family. This was perfect.”


Londonderry N.H.