When I started dating Claudia, our romance raised a lot of eyebrows among my friends. I was 23 at the time and two years out of university, just getting established in a good advertising job. Claudia was in her late 30s. She never actually told me her age, but it was obvious to everyone that there were a fair number of years between us. Other differences stood out just as well. She’s a very petite woman, tiny actually, with a heavy mane of dark blonde hair and a soft European accent most people couldn’t quite place. She came off as very sophisticated — not much like me at all, in other words, or even my friends, as educated as they were.

The few times we all met for drinks or dinner, most of them didn’t quite know what to make of Claudia. She was a psychologist, and part of the faculty at a local... Read More