We are in our early 50's and have had a lovely life. Minor ups and downs - but, on the whole, we are among the lucky ones.
We are friendly with another couple, who are just a bit younger than us. They would be regarded as a perfect couple. I know she is highly regarded in her profession, he is dull but trustworthy. They have raised a perfect family (too perfect???). Despite her full time job, their house etc. is perfection (always). She looks better today than she did when I first met her 25 years ago - even up close, it is hard to distinguish her from her daughters.
I knew her first through some common friends and then, way back, we met twice on holiday - completely by coincidence. We got on great. And then, shortly afterwards, they moved house closer to us - so over the years we have seen a lot of them. But friendly and all as we are, we do not socialise together - but find ourselves at the same gigs a lot over the years.
My H is very sociable and is very easy in womens' company. I know that my circle of (girl) friends like him a lot.
Somewhere along the way, he and she seemed to spark off each other. As the years passed, they seem to gravitate towards each other in social situations - and they always seem to spend a lot of time laughing. Now she is very lively, attracts a lot of male attention and is very adroit in handling herself.
Over the past while, I have come to the view that she seeks him out in these situations. H runs into both of them more than I do - at rugby games, lunches etc. etc...
I am pretty sociable - but prefer small groups. A slight hearing problem does not help.
When he comes home, he always gives me a blow by blow report of the badinage between her and him. Her husband is purely a bystander - trying to keep up. He is dull - but harmless.
Sometimes, at gatherings, I see H and her in a crowd but kind of separate from it - H doing his usual gassing and she bent over laughing, holding on to his shoulder for support. There is nothing surrepticious about the way this is done - and most usually, they will repeat the banter when I rejoin them.
She has told me on numerous occasions that H is "brilliant" - always leaves me a bit tongue-tied.
She cycles a lot and just recently, H took our dog for a marathon walk along a towpath that is not far from us. Along the way, he met her as she cycled home. She got off and walked along with him - for five miles!!!!. When they got to the end of the towpath, they had an ice-cream and sat on a bench. She fed the last of her Magnum to our dog and H used his phone to take a short video of the dog licking the last of the Magnum. When he got home, he could not wait to show me the dog licking the ice-cream. He thought it was very funny. She has just recently become a (very young) grand-mother and he regaled me with all his witticisms about her new found status as a granny.
As I write this, I cannot decide whether I am complete idiot or whether I am right to be on my guard.
Thankfully, we only encounter them on an occasional basis. Sometimes a year could go by without running into them - but, as happened recently, H could see them a lot in a short time.
My sister thinks I am an idiot - but then she thinks he is brilliant. (I can't watch them all - joke!!!).