Last Thursday, Tim and I were interviewed by Nancy Redd on the internet news show: Huffington Post Live. We thought we would be discussing our book, Two Are Better, but the real story was marrying late in life, for the first time at age 52. We were joined in the interview by a relationship coach, and by a dating expert who writes for AARP. Before the interview, we compiled a list of pros and cons when marrying in midlife.
Here are the pros we came up with:
• We bring a rich background of life experience. Both of us lived satisfying single lives. Coming together, sharing our past, developing our present, and looking forward to a hopeful future makes life worth living together.
• At 52, we know ourselves better than we did at 22 and we have more to offer each other. Our communication skills and ability to work through conflict have developed over the decades and make the rough waters easier to sail through because we know that they will pass.
• We appreciate the years that have passed and we realize that every day is a gift to share. We also feel that we have a lot of catching up to do. So, we are more intentional in our plans for each day and the future.
• Since we waited so long before marrying, we know that this is God’s best for us. We could have married earlier by settling for someone who wasn’t God’s best, but we didn’t.
• Companionship after all those years of being alone is a gift! We started out as friends and we keep building on our foundation of friendship, with the benefits of intimacy included.
• No birth control is required at age 52 and beyond. What freedom and fun that brings! Menopause has its benefits.
• Both Tim and I had wonderful careers and worked hard to accomplish much at work. But now career is not our top priority. Although we still enjoy working hard, now we are working on things together.
• And since we worked so hard, we are now more financially secure than when we first started out in our work lives as singles. So, we have more to share with others.
Let us know if you have married later in life (later than the average male at 28 and the average female at age 26) and help our list of pros GROW by adding a comment below. Next time, we will share with you the (shorter) list of cons that we came up with. Stay tuned!