Grandma, 83, says love has continued to grow with husband who is 40 years younger
An 83-year-old grandma has spoken about her relationship with her husband, who is 40 years younger.
Age is just a number for Edna Martin and her husband Simon, 44.
While their four-decade age gap might be unconventional for some, Edna claims she and her husband of 14 years are “still intimate” – often expressing their affection for one another through public displays such as bum pinching.
“We are still intimate in the bedroom as much as any couple in love,” says Edna, who is a grandmother-of-four.
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“We’ll often stop in the street and have a damn good kiss - I’ve never felt conscious of the age gap in public.
“I kiss Simon’s neck and pinch his bum in the supermarket - he will twang the back of my bra in the queue.
“We just do what two people in love do."
Edna, a retired engineer turned secretary for a local theatre organ club, met Simon, a talented organist who has toured the country for his career, in 2002.
The pair – who use the pet names ‘Piglet’ and ‘Piglette’ for one another – later married in 2005, when Edna was 70 and Simon was 32.
A decade later, in 2015, they renewed their vows.
It isn’t all plain sailing: Simon has dyslexia, dyspraxia and Asperger's syndrome, and was forced to retire from his music tours after developing type two diabetes and undergoing a kidney transplant.
Edna, meanwhile, has mobility issues.
However, she says the problems have not got in the way of their love.
She adds: “We love each other more than before - the love has grown over the years, it’s absolutely wonderful.
“Simon has had his health problems and I’m getting older now, but do you know anyone who is getting younger?
“Simon had a kidney transplant four years ago and has been diagnosed with type two diabetes so I have to feed him right.
“I have a push along walking thing as I struggle with my mobility but as one gets older these things happen.
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“We support and love each other - life couldn’t be better.
“Our love gets bigger and bigger all the time.”
Of the pair’s first meeting back in 2002, Simon says: “It was a concert at the Odeon in Weston which had started by the time I’d arrived so I went around to the emergency exit.
“Ed opened the door and it was love at first sight.
“She was standing there in a nice, black suit and she opened her arms.
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“We literally fell into each other’s arms.
“I thought to myself ‘She’s a bit of alright’.”
Edna’s two children, Lorraine, 59, and Russell, 57, from a previous 37-year marriage, have always supported the her relationship with Simon.
Russell even sends Simon cards on Father’s Day to “pull his leg”.