CONNIE CONTI

At 82, She's Got Maybe 20 or 30 Years Left.

Connie learned independence the hard way.

She met her husband shortly before graduating from Westerly High School, moved to Long Island, raised two children—and lost her husband when he was only thirty.

There was no grand plan for what came next. There were children to raise and bills to pay.

So Connie went to work.

She took restaurant jobs and discovered that the recipes she'd learned from her mother weren't merely family favorites. People wanted them. Soon restaurants wanted Connie because of them.

She built a life, raised her family and developed the kind of confidence that doesn't require announcing itself when she enters a room.

Eventually she joined the family at Toma Bistro, where food isn't simply what they serve. It's what they do.

Now, at 82, Connie has decided retirement might finally be worth trying.

Not because she's slowing down.

Quite the opposite.

As Connie sees it, she may only have another twenty or thirty years left.

And Florida happens to contain something besides sunshine.

His name is Mario Rossi.

They have history.

Apparently, they're not finished making it.