mid-life crisis

While men seem to get the 7 year itch, women tend to have emotional mid-life crises, a generalization to be sure, but I have observed many.* Does anyone remember the soap opera Helen Trent, Backstage Wife? Helen lived with a perpetual dark cloud hanging over her: she was 39. She was 39 longer than Jack Benny was. She should have just taken the plunge and turned 40 and got it over and done with. It was a cliché around here a few years ago that, if you saw a new, red Miata convertible, it was probably driven by a 40 year old woman. Apparently, 70 years ago, the fears were the same, and such women are easy prey for cads looking for a little fun. Some women are lucky and their husbands take them back. Others are not as lucky. Brief Encounter is well regarded because it is about one of the lucky ones. It makes the viewer feel good and warm. A movie about a wife whose husband was indignant and unforgiving would have been too gruesome, and the "heroine" universally condemned for the misery she brought on herself, her husband and her children. Just because Laura was lucky doesn't make her any less guilty.

* In addition to my own personal observations in the neighborhood, I have handled several divorce and child custody cases in court.