Jack, Jack, Jack...age IS just a number...I still enjoy watching cartoons on the Cartoon Network... Despite the difference in their age, they may both live very long, or one or the other could have their number picked the day after they move in together. What matters in a relationship is the strength, not the length! They could have a strong enough relationship that one's death may not prompt the other to begin searching for another mate ever, although not probable; being alone is hell, but if things don't work out then this relationship will be a guide for him to learn from in establishing another.
Don't make book, Jack, you're getting older all the time...in fact, you're older now than you've ever been before, and younger than you ever will be again. And you write in Hebrew, you're a sneaky devil, aren't you?!?
Exactly my take on this Nephy'...
Rob & I had the good fortune to meet a mutual friend through a group of us that used to go to Disneyland in Anaheim about every 2-3 weeks....one of the guys, Bruce, was a former stockbroker. He had to quit his job when he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He went from a six-figure salary to earning disability in the space of about 2 months, and 18 months later died at 39, about 3 weeks shy of his 40th birthday. He and his partner had what I hope Rob & I have someday, a nice house (our condo is too small), nice cars (not extravagant, but satisfying), family (the friend's nephew was staying with them while attending college out here)...but their families were completely across the country, and in Germany. They were together for, I think, 6 years--not even as long as Rob & I, but their lives were thoroughly interwoven. Their relationship was extremely strong through all of this, and Bruce's partner is now socializing again, but he's in no emotional state to date yet, and he may never be--that's how close they were, and it's been 4 years at the beginning of this month...