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Kim was 24 and working at the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office when she met Vern, 56, who ran a small chain of hardware stores. He called her and invited her to lunch the day after they met, and Kim said there was “something about Vern [that] was magnetic”, noting his “sparkling eyes” and the way he made her feel “lighter, happier and more confident”. Six months later, Vern and Kim shared their first kiss, and she “felt electricity down the back of my neck, all the way to my toes”.
Vern was divorced with two older daughters, and admitted he saw Kim as an “opportunity to recover some of his youthful energy and spirit”. A year after their first kiss, they got married.
But not everyone was happy about the newlyweds; “A friend’s parents warned me that Vern was about to ruin my life”, Kim explained, adding members of her own family “were outraged” about her decision to marry someone more than twice her age.
The conversation about children was soon brought up, and Kim’s sister questioned Vern’s life expectancy asking “What if he dies?” Kim “didn’t hesitate” with her response: “If we have five great years, it’s better than none.”
She explained how at the time, she didn’t “worry about time, age or the impact of Vern’s decades of chain-smoking”, but “over time…reality set it”.
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“Although we enjoyed a beautiful marriage…within five years of meeting Vern, I indeed became a widow and single parent with two children under the age of five to raise on my own,” she wrote for Huff Post.
Vern had spoken to Kim about the possibility of her becoming his caregiver, “but I thought nothing of it,” Kim admitted. “Of course, I would do what was necessary, but that would be far in the future.”
Unfortunately, “that day came sooner than either of us imagined,” Kim opined and she quickly found herself making medical appointments for him, measuring his medication, and providing personal care at home.
“Accepting that Vern might die was one of the most difficult things I dealt with in our marriage,” she revealed.
Looking back on her marriage, Kim openly discussed the aspects of her relationship she wasn’t prepared for when dating an older man, and referenced “culture gaps” and “a lack of commonality when it comes to generational identity”.
She also said that marrying someone who was born in a different generation brings “disparities in shared history” and sometimes, she felt “embarrassed”.
There were also times when Kim “wanted Vern to be less old-fashioned and more energetic”, revealing his love for reading books, “marinating in his thoughts” and “enjoying silence”.
Kim also mentioned sex and how in age-gap relationships it can be “cringeworthy” to talk about, but she and Vern didn’t suffer from a lack of libido, their “challenge was his health condition”.
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She explained there were times when Vern would “cough so hard he could barely breathe” because of his chain smoking and chronic bronchitis.
But it was the “imbalance of power” in the relationship which surprised Kim, with her explaining how Vern would “slip into a parenting role” leaving Kim feeling patronised. Looking back, Kim said she would speak to a therapist about the power imbalance in her relationship in a bid to help “Vern show more empathy” towards her.
Despite all this, Kim said her “relationship was so special”, and it wasn’t to do with sex, “but the intimacy we shared” over five short years.
“When I married Vern at 24, I believed I had my feet firmly planted on the ground. Today, I see our marriage differently,” she said.
Kim suggested they were “both greater idealists than realists” and was “willing to risk the possibility of future heartache for my immediate enjoyment”.
Now, more than 35 years on since Vern died, Kim said she is “grateful” for adjusting her goals to her husband’s timeline as they were able to enjoy holidays together, dine at their favourite restaurants together and visit relatives they wanted to “see one last time”.
Kim finished: “Our time together was limited, but these are memories that I will always treasure.”
