Which may have had something to do with John Lucas one evening in 1943 in Kinston waiting and waiting for Blondola Powell to emerge for their for 8 o'clock date.
The second hand made a bunch of trips around the clock.
But no Blondola.
So Lucas asked Powell's roommate what the deal was.
"She said, 'I'll go let her know, again.' And when she came back that time she told me that I had promised to be there at 8, and it was about five minutes after 8 when I got there, so she had changed her mind and had decided to do something else," Lucas said.
Perhaps down, but Lucas was not out, because this is the same guy who not too long before that had seen Powell, a new teacher at the school where he'd been teaching, and for whatever reason was absolutely mesmerized.
"I began staring at her and staring at her," Lucas said.
A fellow teacher asked Lucas why he kept gazing at the woman.
Lucas remembered saying, "I believe I see my wife."
Love bears all things.
Blondola Powell became Blondola Powell Lucas on August 12, 1945 at a ceremony in Charlotte, Blondola's hometown.
But Uncle Sam needed John Lucas in the Asiatic-Pacific theater for World War II. The young man went across the water, did his part to help handle America's business and returned to his bride in Kinston, where he resumed his teaching career and became an assistant principal.
John Lucas, from Rocky Mount, accepted a principalship at a school in Oxford. Blondola began to teach school in Oxford.
And then Hillside High School called on John Lucas to be principal, and that's how the Lucases got to Durham, where Blondola Lucas served as assistant principal at Shepard Middle School.
Love endures all things.
"We've been quite a team," John Lucas said. "Of course, you have differences of opinions to discuss. But you resolve them."
Ah, so that's why the Lucases have been married so long.
Today is their 66th wedding anniversary.
Yet today married couples will call it quits after just six years. Some couples might not last six months.
"I guess it's dedication to purpose and belief that all things are possible if you have a strong faith and belief. A faith that will not shrink," John Lucas said. "Belief in God creates unity of purpose and goals and togetherness.
"We not only lived together, we worked together. We were in church together," John Lucas said.
Wait a minute -- John and Blondola Lucas are best friends?
"Oh, yes!" said John Lucas, 91.
Love does not insist on its own way.
Blondola Lucas, 90, doesn't say much these days. But she pushed through the limitations Father Time has put on her and mustered the strength to let it be known John Lucas still is her big man.
"You have to accept your challenges and your opportunities," explained John Lucas, who said he's given up many of the things he wants to do in order to spend the days with his wife at Hillcrest Convalescent Center, where Duke University basketball players including Nolan Smith have dropped by to visit.
John Lucas said Smith, drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers, played basketball with his grandson, John Lucas III, a member of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and son of former NBA player and coach John Lucas Jr., one of the great athletes to come out of Hillside.
John Sr. and Blondola Lucas have a daughter, Cheryl, who was an educator in Washington, D.C. The elder Lucases have a total of three grandchildren by John Lucas Jr. and his wife, DeEdgra.
A new Durham middle school is being named to honor John Lucas Sr., former president of Shaw University in Raleigh. Back in June during a reunion of Durham high schools, John Lucas Sr. was dubbed Father of the Decade.
Quite frankly, the recounting of all of John Lucas Sr.'s accolades could go on for quite some time. The man's been walking around on this terra firma more than nine decades.
Yet the old educator would tell you none of those accomplishments mean as much as the achievement of having stayed married to the same woman for 66 years.
"Oh, no!" John Lucas Sr. insisted. "Marriage is No. 1."
John Lucas Sr. said he couldn't recall a time when the sun went down and he and his wife were mad at each other.
In fact, John Lucas Sr. can't remember a day when the two didn't put forth the effort to maintain communication. Even when he was away at war, he said daily he'd write her a letter or little note, and she was back in Kinston putting words on paper for him.
"You work at it by being together, and sharing, caring. Sharing each others' accomplishments and sharing each others' sorrows, and aches and pains," John Lucas Sr. said. "I'm not certain that there has been a day that we haven't either been together, talked by telephone or wrote each other."
And that was before cell phones and email and Facebook and Skype.
"Frequent and steady contact with each other, which allows love to grow," John Lucas Sr. said.
Of course, the younger generation manages frequent and steady communication with friends. The contact just doesn't always carry over to spouses, according to America's divorce rate.
Like he does every evening, John Lucas Sr. will sit with his wife until she falls asleep at the rest home. Then he'll he go home to rest over there on Washington Street where he once lived with his bride.
Blondola Powell Lucas said she loves her husband now as much as she ever did. John Lucas Sr. said the feeling is mutual, and then some.
"It's more and more each day," John Lucas Sr. said. "Love is eternal and is in evolution. There's no end to it."
Love never fails.
The second hand made a bunch of trips around the clock.
But no Blondola.
So Lucas asked Powell's roommate what the deal was.
"She said, 'I'll go let her know, again.' And when she came back that time she told me that I had promised to be there at 8, and it was about five minutes after 8 when I got there, so she had changed her mind and had decided to do something else," Lucas said.
Perhaps down, but Lucas was not out, because this is the same guy who not too long before that had seen Powell, a new teacher at the school where he'd been teaching, and for whatever reason was absolutely mesmerized.
"I began staring at her and staring at her," Lucas said.
A fellow teacher asked Lucas why he kept gazing at the woman.
Lucas remembered saying, "I believe I see my wife."
Love bears all things.
Blondola Powell became Blondola Powell Lucas on August 12, 1945 at a ceremony in Charlotte, Blondola's hometown.
But Uncle Sam needed John Lucas in the Asiatic-Pacific theater for World War II. The young man went across the water, did his part to help handle America's business and returned to his bride in Kinston, where he resumed his teaching career and became an assistant principal.
John Lucas, from Rocky Mount, accepted a principalship at a school in Oxford. Blondola began to teach school in Oxford.
And then Hillside High School called on John Lucas to be principal, and that's how the Lucases got to Durham, where Blondola Lucas served as assistant principal at Shepard Middle School.
Love endures all things.
"We've been quite a team," John Lucas said. "Of course, you have differences of opinions to discuss. But you resolve them."
Ah, so that's why the Lucases have been married so long.
Today is their 66th wedding anniversary.
Yet today married couples will call it quits after just six years. Some couples might not last six months.
"I guess it's dedication to purpose and belief that all things are possible if you have a strong faith and belief. A faith that will not shrink," John Lucas said. "Belief in God creates unity of purpose and goals and togetherness.
"We not only lived together, we worked together. We were in church together," John Lucas said.
Wait a minute -- John and Blondola Lucas are best friends?
"Oh, yes!" said John Lucas, 91.
Love does not insist on its own way.
Blondola Lucas, 90, doesn't say much these days. But she pushed through the limitations Father Time has put on her and mustered the strength to let it be known John Lucas still is her big man.
"You have to accept your challenges and your opportunities," explained John Lucas, who said he's given up many of the things he wants to do in order to spend the days with his wife at Hillcrest Convalescent Center, where Duke University basketball players including Nolan Smith have dropped by to visit.
John Lucas said Smith, drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers, played basketball with his grandson, John Lucas III, a member of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and son of former NBA player and coach John Lucas Jr., one of the great athletes to come out of Hillside.
John Sr. and Blondola Lucas have a daughter, Cheryl, who was an educator in Washington, D.C. The elder Lucases have a total of three grandchildren by John Lucas Jr. and his wife, DeEdgra.
A new Durham middle school is being named to honor John Lucas Sr., former president of Shaw University in Raleigh. Back in June during a reunion of Durham high schools, John Lucas Sr. was dubbed Father of the Decade.
Quite frankly, the recounting of all of John Lucas Sr.'s accolades could go on for quite some time. The man's been walking around on this terra firma more than nine decades.
Yet the old educator would tell you none of those accomplishments mean as much as the achievement of having stayed married to the same woman for 66 years.
"Oh, no!" John Lucas Sr. insisted. "Marriage is No. 1."
John Lucas Sr. said he couldn't recall a time when the sun went down and he and his wife were mad at each other.
In fact, John Lucas Sr. can't remember a day when the two didn't put forth the effort to maintain communication. Even when he was away at war, he said daily he'd write her a letter or little note, and she was back in Kinston putting words on paper for him.
"You work at it by being together, and sharing, caring. Sharing each others' accomplishments and sharing each others' sorrows, and aches and pains," John Lucas Sr. said. "I'm not certain that there has been a day that we haven't either been together, talked by telephone or wrote each other."
And that was before cell phones and email and Facebook and Skype.
"Frequent and steady contact with each other, which allows love to grow," John Lucas Sr. said.
Of course, the younger generation manages frequent and steady communication with friends. The contact just doesn't always carry over to spouses, according to America's divorce rate.
Like he does every evening, John Lucas Sr. will sit with his wife until she falls asleep at the rest home. Then he'll he go home to rest over there on Washington Street where he once lived with his bride.
Blondola Powell Lucas said she loves her husband now as much as she ever did. John Lucas Sr. said the feeling is mutual, and then some.
"It's more and more each day," John Lucas Sr. said. "Love is eternal and is in evolution. There's no end to it."
Love never fails.
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