Older man with a much younger wife? Oh, grow up.

Normally, the separation of two celebrities after 15 months of marriage wouldn’t cause a ripple in me. 15 months? Some celebs are married twice in that time.

But the news of Greg Norman’s and Chris Evert’s dissolution hit me like a tidal wave. They seemed perfect,didn’t they? Everywhere they went, their eyes were locked, their hands intertwined. Both were 54, yet they looked the part of teenage sweethearts.

To me, though, they were symbols of a grown-up, mature relationship that we see too seldom in the popular press. A relationship built on shared values that had developed over a lifetime of professional sports, of long first marriages, of raising children, of living private lives under public scrutiny, and arriving at similar crossroads at about the same time in life.

I was especially proud of Norman for choosing a mate his same age. The tabloids would have loved it had he dated 20-something starlets or squired around a trophy wife. Michael Douglas, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Larry King — the list of old men marrying women closer to their daughters’ ages would stretch the length of a par 5.

In Norman and Evert we saw dignity in their slightly weathered faces, in their mutual affection, in their gratitude for finding youthful bliss in their 50s. Their union was so refreshing and so hopeful, I was rooting for them. Alas, when reality washed ashore, it only made their breakup all the more disheartening.

Jody Olson, Chapter Two Communications

Mature marketing expertise from one of America’s “oldest” authorities on boomers, retirement, aging, longevity, and inter-generational marketing.