# Would you stay married/involved if your SO were Methuselized? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 28, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-stay-married-involved-if-your-so-were-methuselized/555369 "2010-09-28T17:17:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-stay-married-involved-if-your-so-were-methuselized/555369/21 "2010-10-02T14:53:24Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Adjunct question to [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=579658). > > You’re married or otherwise seriously involved. Your spouse/SO catches an unknown virus, and gradually you both come to realize that your spouse is no longer aging. > > What’s your reaction? Help me, help me, she’s Methusalized! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-stay-married-involved-if-your-so-were-methuselized/555369/22 "2010-10-02T14:54:34Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Adjunct question to [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=579658). > > You’re married or otherwise seriously involved. Your spouse/SO catches an unknown virus, and gradually you both come to realize that your spouse is no longer aging. > > What’s your reaction? Help me, help me, she’s Methusalized! BTW, that’s an awesome neologism. You’ve made my day. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-stay-married-involved-if-your-so-were-methuselized/555369/23 "2010-10-03T16:28:12Z")
Pondering this exact question caused Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer to postpone working on his current trilogy, **WWW** , so he could write **Rollback** , where an elderly couple is given a super-expensive youth restoration procedure so the wife can continue her work on an important scientific problem. The husband only gets the procedure because his wife insists she won’t do it alone – but sadly, the procedure doesn’t work for her, but it works fine for him. So he ends up as a young adult married to an octogenarian. Awesome book… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-stay-married-involved-if-your-so-were-methuselized/555369/24 "2010-10-04T08:16:49Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@Nava](#): > > > > So… leave now to avoid being left later? Sounds like the un-reasoning behind not asking the lady out because she’s “out of your league”, instead of letting her decide what league you’re in. > > I didn’t say it was my position. > > I’d be okay with my wife remaining young indefinitely. She’s a lot younger than I am anyway; I anticipate her outliving me by a good amount. I need to make a macro for a footnote: (1) (1) that’s a generic you. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-stay-married-involved-if-your-so-were-methuselized/555369/25 "2010-10-04T08:50:26Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > > I can think of several reasons why people, especially men, would consider it. Fear of being left behind, for one thing. Assuming you are your wife are the same age, are you confident that she’ll want to be with you 40 years hence, when you’re getting decripit and she’s still at her prime? > > So… leave now to avoid being left later? Sounds like the un-reasoning behind not asking the lady out because she’s “out of your league”, instead of letting her decide what league you’re in. While I agree that the “out of your league” thing is stupid, you aren’t really hitting on the reasoning. It’s that the amount of effort and commitment involved is minimal, and thus the amount of pain is also minimal. There are plenty of things where the bad side of stopping outweighs the good of starting. Heck, it’s the best argument on drugs, I think. That said, in this situation, I don’t think that happens. Nothing about the situation seems inevitable. If you’re immortal, what’s wrong with staying with someone for the rest of their life? Also, I wonder if it’d be possible to salvage the virus from her, and make myself immortal. Then again, I’d rather be Enoched instead. (Methuselah likely drowned.) ---
**Author:** ![Rubik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dec6dc/32.png) [@Rubik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubik)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-stay-married-involved-if-your-so-were-methuselized/555369/26 "2010-10-04T09:04:52Z")
But that’s the reason I’m with my partner! I love her and she’ll never age in my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-stay-married-involved-if-your-so-were-methuselized/555369/27 "2010-10-04T12:40:01Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > > [@Nava](#): > > > > So… leave now to avoid being left later? Sounds like the un-reasoning behind not asking the lady out because she’s “out of your league”, instead of letting her decide what league you’re in. > > While I agree that the “out of your league” thing is stupid, you aren’t really hitting on the reasoning. It’s that the amount of effort and commitment involved is minimal, and thus the amount of pain is also minimal. I guess what I don’t understand is the assumption that there will be more pain if you do than if you don’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-stay-married-involved-if-your-so-were-methuselized/555369.md?page=1)