Happiness will silence gossip

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This article was published 20/06/2018 (2675 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I have fallen in love with an older woman. I am in my early 50s and she is in her mid-70s. We are everything, including friends and lovers, and also soulmates. She has no money, so don’t think there’s anything for me to gain courting my charming and spicy older woman. I have enough money for the both of us.

The problem is she won’t marry me, and I would love her to. She says she doesn’t see anything weird about it, but people would make crude jokes and gossip. I just laughed and said, “They’ll probably think you have millions stashed away, and I’m out for your money!”

She said, seriously that they probably will. How can I get her to marry me? I love her so much.

— Want To Marry My Love, Winnipeg

Dear Want To Marry: If other people knowing is the problem, would she go for a secret wedding? She’s probably right that people will talk and disapprove, and she doesn’t want that. People can be very mean and have prejudices against people and situations that are different.

Older men have married much younger women and people have clucked about it, but accepted it, for years.

A younger man marrying a much older woman is still very unusual in our society. Seeing how happy you are together, people might shut up.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I have been shopping in the U.S. and Canada for many years and still find the American salespeople to be much friendlier, more helpful and chattier than the people in Canadian stores.

Here in Canada, they often behave as if you’re interrupting their day. In Grand Forks, Fargo, New York and Las Vegas, clerks often go out of their way to be helpful to me.

In Winnipeg, Toronto and Vancouver, the people in the chain stores are hard to talk to, and it’s often difficult to find anyone.

I am finding it hard to keep my mouth shut when Canadian people put down Americans as a whole because of their present leader. They should remember that the people and the government are not one and the same, no matter how people voted. I’m sure some of them are sorry now, anyway.

— Still Love Friendly Americans, Ft. Richmond

Dear Still Love Americans: Many people have stopped going to the U.S. for shopping and holidays. Many Americans and Canadians who share mobile home parks during the winter season are now steering away from talking politics in order to remain friends. Too bad people can’t disagree with a person’s politics without disliking the person. We share many TV shows with the U.S. and we know that, as day-to-day regular people, we are much more alike than different.

Maybe we can take a tip from people at the Manitoba legislature. People of different political stripes greet each other in the hallways of that grand building every day, say hello and don’t turn their faces or backs.

We would have better relationships in all areas of life if we heard each other out, made our statements or arguments, and didn’t automatically dislike those who disagreed with us. It’s OK to agree with part of what someone says, disagree with another part, and still be civil at the very least.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave. Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

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