My son (19) has been eying my girlfriend (41) for basically his entire life.
It used to be a big joke when he was very young. He (Jake) met her (Courtney) when he was four, she was twenty-six, and I was a somewhat scandalous thirty-five seriously dating someone nine years younger just two years after my divorce. He took to Courtney instantly even if my ex-wife (Jake’s mother) did not. Jake’s always been a sweet, affable kid and Courtney – who has no biological children of her own – adored him at once. All the stereotypical jokes in the world have been made about him “stealing her” from me due, perhaps in part, to the age discrepancy or perhaps just because they get along so damn well.
Having partial custody of Jake, Courtney and I got him on weekends and we had a lot of fun growing up taking trips, playing in the park, encouraging him to pursue his interests (and oftentimes learning them along with him), and so on. She’d help him with his homework once it started to stump me (I’ve always been weak at math), she’d play video and then PC games with him later into the night than I could bear to with my rigid work schedule versus her self-paced job, and in general she was like a second mom to him. In fact, Jake sometimes slipped up an called her “mom,” which always brought a huge smile to her face.