Age Differences In Relationships

[MissyP89]

[quote name='Archaeology cat' post='1877770' date='May 29 2009, 03:38 AM']I think the maturity levels are more important than the actual ages.[/quote]

This. There is a lot more involved than just numbers. Life experiences, hobbies, and general compatibility all help. (I was dating a 20-year-old when I was barely 17, so dunno if that counts for anything. We're still together.)

[inunionwithrome]

My sister and her fiance are 9 years apart. He is 39 and she will be turning 30 next month. God always finds the right one though. She never thought that she would meet the guy. She's so far away in NE but I think God sent her there to meet her mate. Then again, she is a Catholic artist who does religous ceramic artwork and that is hard in the market too.

[CatherineM]

My mom and dad were 8 years apart. She's buried 3 guys already, so she's now with someone 15 years her junior, and they have been together over 20 years now.

[Moosey]

My parents are 12 years apart. When they met, my mother was 19 and my father was 31. My grandma wasn't too thrilled. They will be married for 28 years in August and they've had 7 children together

Of course, that could be seen as a special case. I definitely agree with Archaeology Cat in that it all depends on the maturity of each person, not the age.

[tinytherese]

I remember attending this one show where the host talked about how his father was 11 years older than his mother and how that bothered him. He didn't know why and he asked, "What's the problem? She was your high school sweetheart?"

[Sojourner]

[quote name='southern california guy' post='1877535' date='May 28 2009, 08:48 PM']But I think that it's perhaps experiences that divide more than age. Experiences like marriage, having kids, getting divorced. Even being in a sexually intimate relationship. I'm still a virgin so I can't relate to that either. And I can't relate any better to young divorcees than I can to ones close to my age.[/quote]
I think that's exactly right. My husband is 12 years older than I am, but when it comes to intimate relationships we have similar histories and experience levels (limited on both sides). Also, I think it's important that you have similar outlooks on life and goals, and that has little to do with age, I've found.

I think age is really only a factor if experience levels are vastly different, or if one of the parties is sensitive about it. I suppose it did help that my husband has siblings my age, and his family is close, so he had a wider experience dealing with people from different age groups than some guys might have.

[MissScripture]

Different things are important to different people. Some people might find it a problem for there to be a large age gap. Some people might not care about that, but be concerned about something else. It's sort of a personal preference, almost. For example, when my parents got married, there was a priest who didn't want to marry them, because my mom was going to be a nurse, and therefore make more money than my dad. That wasn't a big deal to my dad, but the priest was convinced it would be. I know another couple where the guy DOES have a big problem with his future-wife making more money than him. I also had a roommate who really liked a guy, but when she found out that he was seven years older than her, she wouldn't have anything to do with him. And, as numerous people here have attested to, other people don't mind age gaps. Might other people find it odd? Yes. But I also get a lot of weird looks and rude comments when people find out I met my fiance on a random Catholic website, called Phatmass...