>>>I suspect that by the time my grandsons become grandparents the word 'family' will take its place next to 'tribe' and 'clan.'
>>
>>I think you're wrong. We've been to 6 weddings in the last 14 months (and were invited to another, but it coincided with Southwest Fox). What is different about these weddings is that almost all of the brides and grooms were in their 30s. The youngest was 26 or 27.
>>
>>Tamar
>
>I live in a 55+ community with about 300 homes and I'm at the upper end of the age span here.
>There's a huge difference in the makeup of couples at the upper end vs those at the lower end.
>Without exception, the uppers couples, as I was, are married and have had one and only one spouse and that spouse is of a different gender.
>With the lowers, that situation is the exception.
>We have 5 same sex couples that I know of. At least a dozen hetero couples are not married.
>I don't know a single couple in that group that contains people that have been together from the beginning.
>There probably are some but I haven't met them.
>The predominant situation in that group though, is a single, divorced woman.
>They're all over the place and they tend to huddle in packs.
>
>Granted this is a small sample and the economic situation is not typical.

FWIW, we've been married 38 years and most of our friends are also in long, first marriages. We have a few who had brief marriages when young, followed by long second marriages. On one side of my family, in my generation, of 10, 8 are still married to the first spouse, 1 in long second marriage, 1 never married.

Also fwiw, one of the six weddings we went to recently was same sex. Our first experience with that as well as the first same sex wedding at our synagogue.

I wonder if, to some extent, older people who are single, whether through death or divorce, are more likely to move into a 55+ community. Makes some sense to me; with a couple, there's some stronger incentive to stay in your existing home.

Tamar