Featured Discussion

Aretha Franklin To Get Remarried/Elderly Love Commentary

Miss Aretha Franklin is getting married for the third time at 69. It seems the songstress is in love enough to tie the knot again. To some it may appear to be useless, but from what I’ve learned from my own grandmother, a woman never ceases to want that promise of an everlasting bond with a partner.

4 years ago, when my grandmother was 75, she shocked all of her direct descendants (including me) when she announced that she was going to marry her long time male friend. On New Year’s Eve 2007, everyone who could, made the pilgrimage to Memphis, TN to see our matriarch get married at the family church. The same cousin who married me, said the blessed words over the couple and there wasn’t dry eye amongst the family as they said “I Do”. For the first kiss, my grandfather grabbed my grandmother so fast, he startled her. I couldn’t blame him, after all, she had made him wait 30 years before she said yes. They are the happiest couple you ever did see and according to Grandma, “The pig in the blanket still works!”

Grandma talks about other vibrant 60-80 year olds in her church who still want to get married and enjoy relations with a man. The problem seems to be that the men in their age group tend to gravitate toward women under 60, leaving the women without prospects. I feel bad for them but as I approach 40, I see the same trend. A close DJ friend of mine, who has been a confirmed bachelor forever, recently got married at 50 to a woman in her 30s and they are expecting a baby any day now. I can’t help to think about the women in his age group who would have loved to have been married to him.

Like my grandmother, I tend to enjoy the attention of younger men.  Although I’m single, I’m think by the time I’m ready to settle down again, I won’t have much of a problem. And maybe like Miss Aretha and my grandmother, the third time will be a charm for me too.