When I was in my teens, my parents separated then later divorced. It was a terrible experience for everyone involved. I can only imagine how painful it must be for someone who put a fictionalized version of their marriage out in the public view for decades to have the RL counterpart come to a messy end.
Still, it explains quite a bit about the direction of the strip in recent years. The obsession with childhood loves, evil-ex-spouses, the increase in glurge...
Very sad. Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
I read that earlier today and had the same thought ("Ah, I wonder if that's where all that stuff came from."). It is very sad, especially when (according to that article) she was going to be cutting back on the strip to spend time with him in retirement.
Posted by stihl1 (Member # 1562) on :
How do you get to be that age and then "meet someone else"? I don't get it.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Megan: It is very sad, especially when (according to that article) she was going to be cutting back on the strip to spend time with him in retirement.
Definitely. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
It is sad. The thing that's confusing me is that I could *swear* that I'd read biogaphic information on her that talked about the real-life inspiration for Jon having left her decades ago.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
IIRC, according to one of the bios in her collections, her current husband is her second husband.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Rod Johnston was always the primary model for fictional John Patterson, but he is her second husband.
Or was. Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
What? Did he suddenly become her 3rd husband?
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
He's becoming her second ex-husband.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
(Along the same lines, I remember being so disgusted with Dave Barry when he dumped his second wife for a big-breasted sportcaster he met over the Internet that it became pretty much impossible for me to read his columns. Since this coincided with his sudden inability to write funny columns, it was a win-win situation.)
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
It explained that weird, pro-adultery story he slipped into his book of internet humor.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
quote:Originally posted by stihl1: How do you get to be that age and then "meet someone else"? I don't get it.
Yes, because everyone knows once you get to be over 30 or so you lose all desire and attraction and never leave your house again. Posted by stihl1 (Member # 1562) on :
quote:Originally posted by maui babe:
quote:Originally posted by stihl1: How do you get to be that age and then "meet someone else"? I don't get it.
Yes, because everyone knows once you get to be over 30 or so you lose all desire and attraction and never leave your house again.
No, because the idea of being married and committed to someone is that you stay with them forever and take care of them in old age. Not wait until you retire and trade the other spouse in for a younger model.
Way to miss the point.
I just don't get how you committ to someone and promise to be with them for life, and promptly dump that person and leave them behind.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by stihl1: I just don't get how you committ to someone and promise to be with them for life, and promptly dump that person and leave them behind.
How is this is more surprising that someone who had done the same thing at age 35 instead of age 65? (I'm not bothering to look the Johnstons' actual ages.)
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
I think it is the amount of time they were together. If people have been together for 20 years, you assume that committment meant enough for them to stick it through some rough times. Also, old people are supposed to be wiser and less impulsive, more experienced than the young (I know that isn't actually true, but it is a perception).
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka: How is this is more surprising that someone who had done the same thing at age 35 instead of age 65? (I'm not bothering to look the Johnstons' actual ages.)
Perhaps the assumption that older people have been married longer (which may or may not be the case since this is a second marriage)?
quote: Statistics Canada indicates that the highest rate of divorces per 1,000 population occurs at year 5 of marriage with over 3.5 divorces per 1,000 population. This rate swiftly diminishes each year thereafter, so that, by age 60, divorce is relatively rare. It is therefore not surprising that people in their late twenties are the most susceptible to divorce (Gentleman and Park, 1997). For instance, between 1990 and 1992, the rate of divorce per 1,000 married women was 2.2; but it was only 1.1 for women aged 45-49, and 0.65 for women 75-87 (versus 0.85 among older men).
2) As your link indicated, the statistics for Americans have some marked differences. (I realize the couple in question is Canadian, but stihl, maui babe, and I are not, and are presumably reacting on some level to the statistics we are surrounded by.)
3) At least in the US, while the rate of divorce does tend to decrease with marital longevity, there is a sharp spike at about retirement age (which also roughly corresponds to the couple becoming empty-nesters).
Sustaining a marriage (especially a GOOD marriage) is hard work at any age.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: Perhaps the assumption that older people have been married longer (which may or may not be the case since this is a second marriage)?
Lynn and Rod were married for almost three decades.
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
Time married doesn't mean much necessarily. My parents were married for over 25 years before they finally divorced. Heh, now they can barely keep from ripping each other's throats out. Makes life at home a real joy sometimes, but so it goes.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: (Along the same lines, I remember being so disgusted with Dave Barry when he dumped his second wife for a big-breasted sportcaster he met over the Internet that it became pretty much impossible for me to read his columns. Since this coincided with his sudden inability to write funny columns, it was a win-win situation.)
I wondered what happened to his writing.
quote:Time married doesn't mean much necessarily. My parents were married for over 25 years before they finally divorced. Heh, now they can barely keep from ripping each other's throats out. Makes life at home a real joy sometimes, but so it goes.
I think (and this is just an opinion) that that demonstrates more the principle of that which we have loved so much becomes that much more repulsive when it hurts us.
[ September 11, 2007, 03:56 PM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
It is not uncommon for people who would like to divorce to stay together until their kids are grown. Sometimes that means they talk about it and agree to do so, sometimes it means that the spouse who wants out doesn't say anything until the youngest graduates from high school and then it takes the other spouse by surprise. I think that contributes strongly to rivka's point about a spike in the divorce rates around retirement age.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by dkw: It is not uncommon for people who would like to divorce to stay together until their kids are grown. Sometimes that means they talk about it and agree to do so, sometimes it means that the spouse who wants out doesn't say anything until the youngest graduates from high school and then it takes the other spouse by surprise. I think that contributes strongly to rivka's point about a spike in the divorce rates around retirement age.
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