"Six days after Christmas, my mom Facetimed me, with an urgency in her voice I had only heard when she told me about my aunt's death. "I need to tell you something," she said, "Your dad wants a divorce." We hung up, and I collapsed on the couch, binge-sobbing through a season of "Gilmore Girls." At 34 years old, I had only ever known my parents together. I wasn't shocked - they had wanted different things for years - but I was heartbroken ."
"Both of my parents are in their late 60s. Who ends their marriage in the final third of life? It turns out, more people than I thought. According to AARP, splits among couples 65-plus have steadily gone up since 1990, the only divorce demographic that has increased in recent years."
"We are also living in a world where women are finding their voices again. After all, that's what happened to my mom. Months before the divorce news, she stopped doing the things my dad expected of her. Her life no longer revolved around ensuring my dad was cared for. I'm proud of her - still am - even if choosing herself was one of the things that ended their marriage."
The narrator learned at 34 that her parents, both in their late 60s, were divorcing, and she reacted with shock and grief. Splits among couples aged 65-plus have risen since 1990 according to AARP, reflecting a growing trend of late‑life divorce. The mother stopped doing expected caretaking roles and quit drinking two years earlier, which helped her rediscover herself and altered the marital dynamic. The parents had grown into different people and stopped evolving together. The divorce ultimately left the parents happier and had a strengthening effect on the narrator's marriage.
Read at Business Insider
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