Centre County love stories: A conversation with Don and Sharon Behrer

When it’s right, it’s right.

That’s more or less what it boiled down to for Don and Sharon Behrer, of Julian. The couple married in June, two months after their first date, a downright leisurely pace compared to the 48 hours it took Don to propose.

Their reluctance to have a long courtship or even a protracted engagement was a byproduct of their age. Don is 80 years old and Sharon is 66 — which is not to say that it slows them down all that much.

In a conversation edited and condensed for length, the couple talk about their blind date at Pizza Mia and the whirlwind romance that followed.

Q: Did you guys know each other for long before you went on your first date?

SB: No, we went on a blind date on a Tuesday and on a Thursday. He said that we were getting married and that was in April, and in June we were married.

Q: What was the blind date like?

SB: When we got (to Pizza Mia) I said I was told that I should have a chaperone because it was a blind date, so I said, ‘That’s my son standing there and that’s my grandson over there. One of my daughters will be here in an hour and a half,’ and he just kind of looked at me like, ‘Are you serious?’

Q: This all happened very quickly. What did you guys see in one another? What made you decide that this is something that could work?

DB: Well we just got along so good and she’s always in good humor and a lot of fun.

Q: What have you enjoyed about getting to know one another over the past two years?

SB: He likes to go to flea markets and auctions ... And he never says anything about my cooking if it’s bad.

Q: What’s it like moving two lives together at this stage?

DB: You know, I think the second marriage goes a lot smoother.

Q: Why do you think it goes smoother?

DB: When you first get married it seems like you’re ...

SB: Out to impress the other person, like you’ve got to do the laundry and you’ve got to keep the house clean. It’s not important anymore. The laundry can be in the dryer for a week. As long as it’s dried I don’t care. The only thing I like is the bed is made when we get up in the morning.

Q: Were you guys at all nervous since you didn’t know each other very long before tying the knot?

SB: No, in fact on our second date we went to a bar because I knew the girl who owned it, and he said to the bartender, ‘We’re going to go to Niagara Falls and we don’t have a suitcase and we’re thinking about getting married. Do you think we need any clothes?’

Q: So you were looking for somebody. Why were you looking? What were you looking to find?

DB: Well, I just figured I was too damn young to be living by myself ... So I dated about five different women and everything and I picked her out of all of them.

SB: I wasn’t dating anybody ... I wasn’t even looking.

Q: What made her the one?

DB: I just liked the way she acts and carries on and she’s good-natured. I’m like that, too. I’m always carrying on and having a good time in life.

SB: Anybody that would have a chaperone at our age on a first date has got to be nuts.

DB: Yeah, I guess so. But I guess it went over alright.

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 7:27 PM with the headline "Centre County love stories: A conversation with Don and Sharon Behrer."