Something old, something new. Weekend challenge.

Side VieW’s weekend challenge, “something old, something new,” of course got me thinking about weddings. This old rhyme is very well known:

“Something old, something new,
Something borrowed, something blue,
And a silver sixpence in her shoe.”

The ‘something old’ represents continuity; ‘something new’ offers optimism for the future; ‘something borrowed’, symbolizes borrowed happiness; ‘something blue’ stands for purity, love, and fidelity; and ‘a sixpence in your shoe’, is a wish for good fortune and prosperity. This remains largely a British custom, but maybe it’s also practised in other countries.

So, having got the obvious out of the way, my mind went off on a bit of a tangent, and I got to wondering, “What about old men who marry young women, and vice versa?” We probably all know of some celebrities who’ve done this. For example, there was Charlie Chaplin, who at 54, married 18-year-old Oona O’Neill, and the inimitable Joan Collins, who at 68, wed her toy-boy, 36-year old Percy Gibson. These age differences might sound  quite extreme, but if we’re talking really bizarre, what about the marriage between this 112-year-old Somali man, and his 17-year-old bride!

He said that he’d been waiting for her to grow up before asking her to marry him. Altogether, this Mr Dore has 114 children and grandchildren. His oldest son is 80 years old and three of his wives have died. He is hoping that his new bride will give him more children. How many is enough? 😉

Just to balance things out a bit, here’s a 104-year-old Malaysian woman, who married a 33-year-old man. This was her 21st marriage, but sadly, she has no children…….yet. 😉

These stories just prove that however old you may be, there’s still hope of a happy marriage with someone young and new. Never say die, until you actually do.

Have a great new week, everyone. Chat again soon.