OW and YM questions

OK, I am fairly new to this board. One of the most fulfilling and passionate relationships I ever had was with a man 21 years younger than me. I had never thought about being in a relationship like this before but I found it to be wonderful. Unfortunately, what I expected to last forever, ended when he fell in love with a young woman. However, since this experience I have been open to the idea of age-gap relationships and wonder if one may be in my future.
I would like to hear from any of you who are in a relationship such as the one I had..but with a different ending. Did any of you marry? How long has it lasted? Does the younger man usually pull away at some point? Can many younger men handle the disrespect other men will give them for their choice of an older woman? I would be interested to hear any of your stories. Thanks.

I was married to a man 10 yrs younger ... age was not a problem... my friend at work is married to a woman 17 years older... he loves her completely... Read the boards, many here are married and happy. It happens....

Well, thanks for the encouragement. I was looking through all the threads trying to learn more and read about different relationships and how they work. I was surprised to find that a great many people were talking about older man/younger woman relationships or just their various relationships in general. All of it was interesting, but I found myself wondering if the OW/YM thing was so rare that it could hardly find a place on the Ageless Love Boards. Also, I often hear about a lasting and workable age gap of 5-10 years but seldom hear about any long-term successfully committed relationship between a woman who are much older (15-30 years) older than her partner. If any of you have stories, I would love to hear about it. I enjoyed hearing about the guy in your office totally in love with his older wife (17 years older), an ageless love connection.

Hi Lillerenee, welcome to the board! I am Gary and im from southern indiana. I don't have a story to tell you, I just wanted to welcome you to the board! I am glad to see more people from indiana.

Originally posted by Lillerenee
Well, thanks for the encouragement. I was looking through all the threads trying to learn more and read about different relationships and how they work. I was surprised to find that a great many people were talking about older man/younger woman relationships or just their various relationships in general. All of it was interesting, but I found myself wondering if the OW/YM thing was so rare that it could hardly find a place on the Ageless Love Boards. Also, I often hear about a lasting and workable age gap of 5-10 years but seldom hear about any long-term successfully committed relationship between a woman who are much older (15-30 years) older than her partner. If any of you have stories, I would love to hear about it. I enjoyed hearing about the guy in your office totally in love with his older wife (17 years older), an ageless love connection.

Not sure what kind of search you did, but the older woman/younger man side of these boards is much more populated I believe than the yw/om side (someone correct me if I'm wrong), and there are far more posts on this ow/ym side as well. We also have many members here with very large agegaps, who are in long lasting, committed relationships on this side, and I'd guess moreso than on the yw/om side.

Hi Lill,
Jeff & I have been together 5 years...married 3. We are VERY happy. Jeff is 33. I am 54. We have never been criticized by anyone about our relationship. His family & mine have always been very happy for us. His parents aren't much older than I& his Mom is my best friend. My daughter is 1 year older than Jeff. Our 2 Grandkids think he is the greatest "Grandpa" in the world! My Hubby adores me & I adore him. We've never been happier & thank God each day we found each other! Good luck to you! Connie

Dave and I met online 5 years ago and were married a year and a half ago. I am 56 and he is 30. We are very happy and I don't see that changing. We are best friends and companions. Neither of us is interested in having a partner a different age -- we just fell in love with the person we were attracted to. We work to keep our relationship strong and to be happy. We've had some rough times but we got through them together, as a team.

I think every couple has different problems depending on where they live, their friends and family and the difference in their ages. We have experienced no real discrimination because of our age difference and Dave's best friend was the Best Man at our wedding. Not all YM or OW will be disrespected because of the age of their partner. In fact this has happened to very few that I know of.

If a man gets teased he has to know how to put a stop to it and not to let it bother him. This comes with maturity, which isn't always linked to age. Some men are never mature and some men are adults at 19.

Peace,
Jane

Thanks for such great responses. It is true that I am new to the boards and inexperienced so maybe I was looking in the wrong places when I failed to find much written about OW/YM. It was so wonderful to hear about people who found people to love....where there just happened to be an age gap. I hope I, again, find this kind of love, and that the next time it does not end badly. Thank you for the encouragement through your beautiful stories.