Plight of a Billionaire, part 2

Previously,  I spoke about the public divorce of Mr. and Mrs. Macklowe.  I mentioned how Mr. Macklowe was over 80 years old and his wife, Linda, 79.  The reason for their divorce according to the reporters was Mr. Macklowe was having an affair and "robbing the cradle."  Apparently, his French girlfriend was much younger than him, being only 64 years of age.   Upon hearing this news, I couldn't stop laughing...

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Since when is anyone 64 years old
considered "in the cradle" in the first place? 

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Heck, his girlfriend was eligible for AARP for 14 years earlier!  Since when is anyone 64-years-old considered to be "in the cradle" in the first place?  Isn't it extremely funny how anything can be twisted to create drama in today's news?  Yes, there is a sixteen-year-age difference between these two adults, but both of them are still considered senior citizens. 

Another reason, I laughed so hard was I had a flash-back.  When I was first started dating my husband, he had received the same label as Mr. Macklowe, "a cradle robber."  Michael was 21 years my senior, although not a senior citizen at that time.  We were both intelligent adults: me in my 20's and him in his 40's.  We've been married 20 years this September.  When I married Michael, not only was he called a "cradle robber" but someone actually accused me of "robbing the grave!" 

Marriage to Michael taught me a lot about discrimination, society labels, and the mean streak many people possess.  During the first few years of our marriage, we heard all the ugly stereotypes in either whispers behind our back or boldly to our faces: "gold digger; midlife crisis; father complex; cradle-robber; sugar daddy; grave-robber; and even whore."  None of these labels were true, but it never stopped rude people from saying them. 

Back in those days, I wasn't saved yet, and my response was often blunt sarcasm.  Okay, so I'm still blunt and sarcastic but I have more mercy and patience now.  But back then, I confronted a woman in Walmart who was making crude comments about my husband being older than me.  She was pointing and loudly saying comments to another woman who was also loudly agreeing with her right in front of me about how old Micheal looked and how I was probably just his "young play thing of the week."  Well, I marched over to those two women and told the first woman she should be ashamed for gossiping because Michael couldn't help that he had an age degenerative disease that made him look so much older than me.  Then  I went on to say people like her and her friend needed to keep their filthy mouths closed because they hurt total strangers with their rude assumptions and ignorance.   I informed the woman Michael felt terrible that he looked so much older than me, but he couldn't help it because medical science had not yet found a cure for his disease.  Then I informed her, we had been happily married for 2 years with the exception of rude people like her making nasty comments about us.  As you can imagine, that woman never thought I would challenge her openly in public.  She was acted ashamed and even apologized before leaving.   Meanwhile, I turned around and found Michael grinning at me and asking, "I have an age degenerative disease?"

I said, "of course you do, it's called life, and the longer you have, it the older you look.  Sadly there is no cure yet."  We laughed all the way out of the store.  A lot of things have changed since then.  I've matured and look much older now; though Michael hasn't changed much.  I suppose the difference in our age isn't as noticeable, since we don't receive half the rude comments we used to get from strangers.  

Have you ever experienced discrimination in your relationships?  Were you able to turn any of it into a humorous memory?    

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• Keep your body strong and active
  
• Redefine aging!

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