I knew I'd left my argument open to a rebuttal based on divorce, and I can't deny that there could be cases where the occasional ex-partner in an intergenerational relationship that was completely mutual at the time might go through a divorce-like process of antipathy. But perhaps you haven't seen the evidence I've seen of younger partners who have lived up to that line in Shakespeare: "Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom." Unfortunately, I can't document it for you. |