WE LEARN ALL SORTS OF THINGS FROM EACH OTHER
Denise Cook, 76, lives in Nailsea, Somerset, with 31-year-old Katie Wonham, a vet. They moved in together in November 2020
Denise says: I was lost when my husband Chris died three years ago. It seemed so silly, me rattling around in a four-bedroom house on my own and I began to think about downsizing.
Then the pandemic broke out and life felt flat. There wasn’t much to do except watch TV.
I have two children who are very good, but they have their lives to lead. Then Katie came into my life and it was like everything went from black and white into colour. I’m old enough to be her grandmother, but I feel like her big sister.
On a practical level it’s handy, as Katie drives me to the shops, but there’s such life and energy living with someone in their 30s too. She’s got me away from TV and into swimming once a week as well as gardening. She’s got so much get-up-and-go, it’s infectious.
It reminds me of when I was young and working in bars in London in the 1970s. I don’t feel like a widow any more, I feel like someone with potential again.
Katie says: Having a housemate from a different generation has been like an adventurous social experiment.
I decided to go for it last year so I could save money to get on the property ladder. What I didn’t expect was to have such a unique, life-enriching experience.
Denise was born in 1945 and I was born in 1990, but our generation gap is a huge positive. I teach her how to use a smartphone and, in return, she’s given me a broader perspective on life.
Anyone going into a home share needs to do so with total honesty and draw up ground rules. When we first started living together, I would come home from work exhausted and want to relax in front of the TV, whereas Denise, who’d spent more time on her own, would want to chat.
But by being honest with one another we’ve smoothed out any edges and worked out a routine that now suits us both.
Now we go swimming weekly and we make the effort to eat together every night. Communication is the key to a successful, trusting living arrangement. I’ve saved up enough for a deposit, so the time will come when I will move out, but I’ll never forget this unique period of my life.