 More on this storyMichael and Anna's story Gill and Norman's story Richard and Carole's story Jane and Jeremy's story
Our experts
Ask our sex expert a question Need help? Email our agony aunt Don't missLiving with chronic pain Getting started with dancing Your say - the place for esoteric conversation |
|
Love and marriage: still the horse and carriage?
Living together may be the current vogue, but as the wedding of Charles and Camilla shows, the call of marriage is as strong as ever for 50-somethings
The vast majority of people who marry when they are in their fifties have made the journey up the aisle or to the registrar's desk at least once before.
Most of them will have been through the divorce courts and they are likely to set out the second time, not just with hope and expectations, but with children, maintenance payments and perhaps with indelible emotional scars. Their new union represents the triumph of hope over experience.
Widows and widowers aren't baggage-free either, and even those stalwarts who have remained single for half a lifetime will be carrying armfuls of ingrained habits and cherished routines.
What makes them want to marry? Why take vows that by the age of 50 you will know from observation as well as statistics, one in three people are unable to keep? Why not simply buy a house and live together?
I found that people who marry in their fifties don't choose to do so for any of the reasons that persuade younger people: parental expectation, the desire for children, or status or security. They marry simply because they want to be together, and surely there can't be a better reason to do so than that. Written by Serena Allott
This article was created: 14 July 2006.
This article was last edited: 11 December 2006.
 Email  Back to top
|
