For those who are calling Bill and Melinda elderly, I'm 55 and I'm fine with that. What I don't care for -- and think is sadly mistaken -- is assuming that people who are elderly don't want to have a relationship filled with love and caring and intimacy and fun. This past year has illuminated that for many people in their late 50s and up, even those of us who are long-married. While younger parents have had to focus on the challenges of working and child-rearing during the pandemic, we have been looking ahead and thinking about what we want the rest of our lives to look like.

In your 50s, as your kids start leaving home or even complete that transition, you have a lot of decisions and transitions to make. In addition, you go from attending funerals for your parents and their peers to attending funerals for your own peers. That is sobering and thought-provoking, and the pandemic has, of course, intensified this. I've seen quite a few couples who have decided they no longer wish to be married -- even people who have done a superficially great job of accumulating wealth and raising kids. The couples who have chosen to split are not as surprising to me as those who have chosen to stay together -- including some who were in the shoals for years. Personally, I have found new gratitude for my husband of nearly 30 years being in my life. One thing I've re-learned this year is that he's never boring. I hope he feels the same way about me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recall a documentary about him where he would take a big bag of books and loads of diet coke to a cottage for some space and alone time. Still, like others, I was surprised at this news.

Well that’s my dream too. Maybe I’ll be the new Mrs.

That's exactly what I was thinking too -- like "what's wrong with the cottage scenario?" though I don't want him in my cottage. We can have matching ones spaced a good distance away. We can meet once every few days for lunch, then it's back to separate cottages!

Only one of you can go alone if you have kids.

Fairly sure they can afford childcare...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gates foundation is hq'd in DC, so this thread and every thread on DCUM is full of six-figure local shills who do nothing all day but monitor the internet to control the messaging about this pair of creepy greedy sociopaths.

No...it's based in Seattle.

PP probably heard it’s in Washington and assumed it’s DC.

I guess Kevin Bacon is elderly, also?

Age is just a number. It's all perception.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of y’all are reacting like this is the Kennedy assassination of DCUMers

Super rich super brainy global think tank philanthropist entrepreneurs with a “couple as brand” get divorced too

I think it’s weird when the elderly divorce. What’s the point?

They're not elderly.

He is, as clinically speaking 65 is the start of elderly.

Naaahh, he isn't.

Whatever your opinion, in terms of the medical field and within government agencies that deal with the population, 65 is the threshold for elderly.

65-74 is considered early elderly, while 74+ is considered late elderly. Considering life expectancy is late 70s for males and early 80s for females, this makes perfect sense.

OMG he just qualified for Medicare this year - he's not elderly. Also the medical field used to have the age of 55 as the threshold for elderly because its about your increased chance of dying not just aging.

Times change, with healthier lifestyles and better medicine, people are living (and reproducing) much longer.

And finally, if your chance of dying within the next year is 4 percent or higher, you might be considered "very old" or "elderly." The above chart shows that this threshold for men increased from about 65 in the 1920s to 76 today.

Note that by these definitions, "old" in the 1920s -- 55 -- is now considered "middle aged" today, and "very old" in the 1920s -- 65 -- is now considered merely "old" today.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-age-is-considered-old-nowadays/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of y’all are reacting like this is the Kennedy assassination of DCUMers

Super rich super brainy global think tank philanthropist entrepreneurs with a “couple as brand” get divorced too

I think it’s weird when the elderly divorce. What’s the point?

They're not elderly.

He is, as clinically speaking 65 is the start of elderly.

Naaahh, he isn't.

Whatever your opinion, in terms of the medical field and within government agencies that deal with the population, 65 is the threshold for elderly.

65-74 is considered early elderly, while 74+ is considered late elderly. Considering life expectancy is late 70s for males and early 80s for females, this makes perfect sense.

Anonymous wrote:She Ctrl+Alt+Del 'ed him.

Anonymous wrote:*irretrievably broken were her words

This is nothing more than a legal term of art. Other jurisdictions use the words ‘irreconcilable differences.’ It’s nothing more than a box to be checked on the dissolution petition in a no fault divorce jurisdiction.

Don’t read anything into those words.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of y’all are reacting like this is the Kennedy assassination of DCUMers

Super rich super brainy global think tank philanthropist entrepreneurs with a “couple as brand” get divorced too

I think it’s weird when the elderly divorce. What’s the point?

They're not elderly.

He is, as clinically speaking 65 is the start of elderly.

Naaahh, he isn't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of y’all are reacting like this is the Kennedy assassination of DCUMers

Super rich super brainy global think tank philanthropist entrepreneurs with a “couple as brand” get divorced too

I think it’s weird when the elderly divorce. What’s the point?

They're not elderly.

He is, as clinically speaking 65 is the start of elderly.

She Ctrl+Alt+Del 'ed him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gates foundation is hq'd in DC, so this thread and every thread on DCUM is full of six-figure local shills who do nothing all day but monitor the internet to control the messaging about this pair of creepy greedy sociopaths.

No...it's based in Seattle.

Yup. I’m from PacNW and know people who work there. Makes you wonder why PP is so misinformed.

In final stages of interview process there - I wonder how it will be impacted/

DP I know people who work for the foundation in DC, so there must be a GF office here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recall a documentary about him where he would take a big bag of books and loads of diet coke to a cottage for some space and alone time. Still, like others, I was surprised at this news.

Bags of books?

Yes! Bags. Inside Bill’s Brain, on Netflix.

All about his book bag...

https://www.geekwire.com/2013/tech-pioneer-bill-gates-lugs-giant-bag-paper-books/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gates foundation is hq'd in DC, so this thread and every thread on DCUM is full of six-figure local shills who do nothing all day but monitor the internet to control the messaging about this pair of creepy greedy sociopaths.

No...it's based in Seattle.

Yup. I’m from PacNW and know people who work there. Makes you wonder why PP is so misinformed.

In final stages of interview process there - I wonder how it will be impacted/

Anonymous wrote:She is quoted as saying that the marriage was "irrevocably broken" in people magazine. To me that sounds like an affair or deep betrayal.. I am guessing a final humiliation in a very difficult marriage with a very difficult man. I wish them both well. Her especially.

It's in her divorce petition--and "irretrievably broken" is a legal term, a requirement for a divorce to proceed.