A 62-year-old woman starts dating a younger man and her children are outraged and demand she stop seeing him, but her response stuns them.
Gail Sutherland considered herself a happy woman until the day her husband of forty years, Darrel, came home and told her he wanted a divorce. Gail had married Darrel while she was still in college, and the couple shared three children.
“But I love you,” Gail whispered. “You’re my whole life!” Gail saw a flicker of guilt and pity in Darrel’s eyes and it made her angry.
“It’s not that I don’t love you, Gail,” Darrel said. “It’s just that I’m in love with someone else, someone younger, and she makes me feel alive!”
“Alive!” Gail repeated. “So what do I make you feel? DEAD?” She pressed her hands to her still smooth cheeks. She was still slim, attractive, her mirror told her that!
“Old,” Darrel shouted. “You make me feel OLD! You’re always going on about grandchildren and retirement, and I’m too young for that, Gail! I want to live!”
Gail pressed tremulous fingers to her lips. “I’m 62, and you’re 65, Darrel, there’s nothing wrong with our age, or wanting grandchildren…”
Darrel shrugged. “Diana is 28, she is exciting and energetic and she makes me feel like a kid again. I need this Gail, but don’t worry, I’ll do right by you.”
And he did. Darrel split his considerable estate right down the middle which made Gail a very wealthy woman. She sat in her huge luxurious house, and the silence oppressed her.
Before you walk away from happiness take a good look at what you are leaving behind.
Her children had taken the divorce well, too well, Gail felt, and she knew they had accepted Darren’s new love. She couldn’t help feeling betrayed even though he knew deep down that it wasn’t fair of her.
“They love him,” she thought. “They want him to be happy, and they want me to be happy too!”
With so much time on her hands, Gail decided to go back to college and take a course in creative writing. She was by far the oldest student in the class but she quickly proved herself one of the best.
Her professor, a tall handsome man in his forties, encouraged her and told her she had a lot of talent. A few weeks after she started class, she ran into him at a local coffee shop, and the two started talking.
Wallace Campion was a charming man, and three hours later, he and Gail were still talking, so he casually suggested they grab some dinner. Gail accepted, without realizing he considered it a date.
When he took her home, Wallace kissed her. Gail was stunned. “You…Wallace,” she said, gasping. “I’m OLD…You…”
Wallace cupped her face in his hands. “Gail, I just had the best night of my life with a vibrant, exciting woman. I don’t know how old you are and I don’t care!”
And suddenly Gail didn’t care either. Before she knew it, she and Wallace were an item, and when her daughter threw a dinner party, she took him along as her plus one.
The children were shocked of course. They had thought Gail’s date would be someone older, not a handsome virile man! The next day, her oldest daughter announced that they all wanted to talk to her.
It turned out to be an intervention in which her children told her that Wallace was too young for her, and obviously only interested in her money. Her son Ryan added, “He’s taking you for what he can get, then he’ll leave you for a younger woman!”
Gail looked at her son and smiled. “Oh that’s OK!” she said. “I’m used to that! That’s what your dad did!”
That left all three silent and embarrassed, and Gail said quietly, “I expect the same acceptance for Wallace that you gave your father’s new wife, is that understood?”
The look on their faces told Gail she couldn’t count on their support. “Never mind,” she thought. “I’ll be OK!”
When Wallace proposed six months later, Gail accepted and sent her children an invitation to the wedding.They all refused, and her oldest daughter was particularly unpleasant. Gail put down the phone and called her lawyer, then she called her daughter back.
“Hun,” she said. “I just wanted you three to know that I’m going into my lawyer’s office tomorrow to draft a prenup agreement, and to change my will — I’ll be leaving everything to Wallace.”
Her children were outraged, but there was little they could do about it. After all, it was Gail’s money to dispose of as she wished. But there was one last surprise in store for Gail.
Just days before her wedding, there was a knock on her door and she found Darrel standing there looking like a whipped puppy. “Darrel!” she gasped. Gail hadn’t seen him in nearly a year and he looked terrible. “What’s wrong?”
As it turned out, everything was wrong. Darrel had been diagnosed with diabetes and autoimmune disease, and apparently, his new wife was now his new ex-wife. Diana was too vibrant and alive to hang around sick people!
“Please, Gail,” Darrel said with tears in his eyes, “Give me a second chance, give US a second chance…”
Gail smiled. “I’m sorry, Darrel, but I want a new life with a man who wants me for who I am, not as some kind of nurse!” She was still smiling when she slammed the door in Darrel’s face, and three days later, she married Wallace, who loved her and didn’t care about her age.
What can we learn from this story?
Before you walk away from happiness, take a good look at what you are leaving behind. Darrel wanted a young woman who’d make him feel younger, and he walked away from his loyal wife without realizing she was what he needed.
It takes courage to take a chance on love. Gail knew that because Wallace was younger she’d be criticized, but she decided to give him a chance so she could be happy.
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