Since meeting at Almeda, the couple have been happily married for six years. Photo / Instagram
When Gary Hardwick was 18 years old he first laid eyes on the "love of his life" while attending a funeral. She was 71-year-old Almeda, who was mourning the loss of her son.
The couple didn't let their 53-year age gap stop them, the pair fell in love and married just three weeks after their first date.
Hardwick moved into her home where one of Almeda's grandsons lived, who is just three years older than her husband.
Six years on, the pair are sharing their love on a shared TikTok account which has more than 65,000 followers.
"I met the love of my life when I was 18 and she was 71," Hardwick said on a TikTok.
"It's been nearly six years and I fall more in love every day.
"I wasn't looking for a young man, but Gary just came along," said Almeda. "I just knew straight away that he was the one."
Once the couple shared photos of their life together on social media, TikTok users flooded them with questions about their unconventional love.
"I do think it depends on each person when it comes to an age gap," Hardwick said.
"And it comes down to chemistry – it's really not about how big the age gap is.
"A lot of people are in relationships and they're the same exact age but are just not that compatible because of their different interests and hobbies."
One TikTok user asked Hardwick how he would cope once his wife passes away.
"This is a question we do get quite often.
"It's a little bit of an odd question and [...] just because someone is older than you and you're with that person, doesn't mean that they're going to pass away first.
"I could go before Almeda. But no one here is promised today or tomorrow so that's not something I dwell upon. It's not something that crosses our mind or we think about," Hardwick replied.
Before meeting Hardwick, Almeda had been married once before, to her ex-husband Donald for 43 years. The couple went on to have four children.
In 2013, Donald passed away after he was in hospital for seven months from complications with diabetes.
The first night the pair met, Hardwick surprised Almeda with roses and a bracelet for her birthday which had been a few days before.
"It made me feel like a teenager again," smiled Almeda.
From then on, the pair continued to see each other every other night and received a blessing from most friends and family including Hardwick's then 48-year-old mother and his then 71-year-old grandmother.
Two weeks after meeting, Hardwick proposed over the phone with Almeda accepting straight away with no hesitation.
Since their wedding, Hardwick had their names tattooed across his chest.
"Almeda is so young at heart that age never bothers us, we never really think about it. I just know that God answered my prayers that day she walked into my life."
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