Grandson supports 65-year-old grandma's 'affair', tells upset parents and objecting relatives to 'grow up'
Shoulf adult children have any say about who their single parents date? On the internet, a 21-year-old guy was praised for defending his grandmother after she had an affair. In a post to the 'Am I the A**h**e?' Reddit group on September 22, user u/Fancy-Winter2122 wrote about how his family is upset with his grandmother for seeing someone even though she has been divorced from her husband for over two decades now.
The poster's father, aunts, and uncles have ceased communication with their 65-year-old mother after learning that she is relocating with her new partner. The poster, upset with his family for not supporting his grandma, advised them to "grow up and get over it," which made them turn on him. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 2019, there is one divorce in America every 42 seconds. This amounts to around 14,364 divorces each week or 746,971 a year. The true number may be even higher because the CDC only compiled data from 44 states. This means that many parents of adult children, now in their 60s or older, maybe single and looking for companionship and romance in their post-retirement years.
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Between 1990 and 2017, the divorce rate for women over 65 doubled, going from 1 in 1,000 to 6. Research indicates that the growth in "gray divorces," as they are often known, is due to a change in attitudes on divorce. Longer lifespans and increasing financial independence for women are two additional potential contributing factors. Older individuals are more likely to quit unpleasant marriages than younger people to wait "until death do us part."
In his post, u/Fancy-Winter2122 said that his grandma raised her five children alone after kicking out her husband in the 1990s. "Grandpa was a terrible father and a garbage husband," he wrote. "An alcoholic who spent all his money on liquor, never supported grandma while she worked her a** [off] to provide for her kids as a baker." After the divorce, the grandma made the decision to remain unmarried for a long period, making her the sole supporter of the children as their father didn't pay child support. The couple did not, however, formally divorce since she "did not believe in it." The grandmother first met William two years ago. She waited a long time to introduce him to the family out of concern for their reaction. The only person who was aware of his grandma's new partner was the grandson. But when the two decided to move in together in July, she was forced to inform her children.
"Everyone was furious and started accusing her of cheating and that she was choosing her affair partner over her own kids," he said. "She was even hesitant about moving in with William, but I encouraged her because he makes her happy and he is a nice man." The poster's father and four siblings have either avoided or reduced contact with their mother since the news broke. She has subsequently requested a divorce from her estranged spouse, further infuriating her kids. The poster eventually had enough of his family's antics over a recent family dinner, ordering them to "grow up."
He said: "I told them to grow up and stop acting like kids since they are not. I told them that they should be happy about their mom's happiness, because that woman dedicated her life to make life easier for them and it's so unfair that they s*** on her while praising my grandpa (who had girlfriends by the way)." His family called the supportive granson an "a******" for "not taking their feelings into consideration." They proceeded to accuse their mother of infidelity and stated it didn't seem appropriate for her to be dating at "this age."
"This isn't cheating," he said. "They haven't been together for around 25 years. "I think they need to understand that their parents ain't getting back together (in case they have a hope) and that grandma has a right to be happy."