Age Controversy

I intended to start off the week at work on the right foot. But that got sidetracked and I decided to constructively idle the first few hours away by reading the local papers. Interestingly enough I came across this article with a subject matter that has always sparked an opinion from me.

Conveniently, while channel surfing this weekend, I also came across a special on Anna Nicole Smith’s life: from Guess Model to Playboy Girl to wife of billionaire to 2nd time mother burying first child to paternity battle. What a life! But anyway, the most important aspect was her marriage to J. Howard Marshall.

It sparks the question in everyone’s mind when they see someone who is old enough to be your parent dating a much younger person, what the motivation for such a relationship could be. I honestly believe that people have different experiences in life that affects the decisions that they make. Even if it’s not for love or sincere feelings for the person – if each individual gets what they need from the union then it works for them. What works for them might not work for us – and who are we to judge? They probably feel the same way about the relationships we forge.

Based on my own life experiences – it is easy for me to have a friendship with someone much older. I am an only child to much older parents who could very well be my grandparents. In fact, I have 1st cousins who are old enough to be my parents.

My socialization as a child required far more maturity than a regular kid would need to display. There was no “Kids’ Table” at family functions, which meant that you needed to have good table manners, proper deportment and etiquette. It meant that to not be bored you had to wrap your mind around adult conversation to read in the context of big words and adult issues. It means getting a reality check about life before you had time to dream and fantasize.

Being raised this way clearly has its pros and cons. Childhood wasn’t all fun and fancy free because you learnt very early that there are consequences to your actions. Bottom line – it makes you mature. However, I am still a big kid at heart. I can have a discussion with a 60 year old about pension schemes and how the Government doesn’t really provide enough for senior citizens, and in the next breath I can be making spit bubbles with a 2 year old that just discovered how to use their tongue and lips to do so! Maybe when I am older I will have the “fun” I thought missed out on as a child and be wearing spandex at age 45 when things don’t hang in the place they are supposed to. LOL

At this stage in my life my needs for a relationship is pretty much a reflection of how I was brought up too. If I can get the stability, the love, the emotional support and the excitement I need from a 60-year-old man I wouldn’t care about his age nor what other people think. Age is just a number. On the flip side though, I honestly don’t think I can get that from the average 18 year old - he’d need too much of the excitement and wouldn’t be able to provide much of the stability. Such a one would have to be exceptional – maybe someone brought up with the same mindset. But at the end of the day, it’s still not taboo in my book.

Sometimes I think my open-mindedness will be my ruin.