A married couple with a 31-year age gap believes that age is just a number – despite the hubby being older than his wife’s mum.
Marjorie and Mark Jensen, 33 and 64 respectively, say they barely noticed their age difference despite getting ‘shocked’ looks from strangers. The couple, who tied the knot in November 2022, began dating when Marjorie was 28 and Mark 59, after being introduced by a mutual friend.
They had to navigate some ‘problems’ when introducing Mark to Marjorie’s family, with the retired writer, producer and director being just one year older than Marjorie’s mother, who is 64. During their first meeting, nervous Mark also had to contend with Marojorie’s ‘stern’ 74-year-old father showing him his knife collection.
However, despite the challenges they’ve faced, Marjorie and Mark say they now live an idyllic life sailing the world together on a 40-foot sailing boat.
Marjorie shared: “I think we’re in total harmony, Mark and me, we’re in the same place, everything works together, we don’t notice the age gap because we like the same things in the same way.”
Mark, of Sydney, Australia, bought the boat that is now their home after retiring from his media career at the age of just 48. Marjorie, who is French, previously worked for the French government before taking a sabbatical to join her now-husband out at sea.
After sailing from the Caribbean to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the adventurous couple now intend to travel across the Atlantic, where they will spend time in London, and France, where they first met. Mark had been spending time in Cherbourg, in the north of the country, where he was part of a group that included English-speaking French people. It was during this time that he first locked eyes with his now-wife.
Lovestruck Mark recalled: “I met everybody in Cherbourg who could speak English, except Marjorie because she never came along to those meetings. I got to meet (Marjorie’s) co-worker and we would often have a beer together and one day he said he has a friend coming along to join us.
“We were at this bar which had a mezzanine level, we were sitting on the top level and we could look down. A very pretty lady walked across the floor, turned around and looked up towards where we were and waved. I thought she must have been waving at someone behind us but she was waving at my friend.”
After sending a friend to get drinks at the bar, the pair sat alone together, and one tricky problem quickly became apparent. Mark remembered: “I just thought, ‘what happens now?’ because she can’t speak English and I can’t speak French so we were just looking at each other.”
Although Marjorie began learning English as a primary school pupil, and could use English to speak to non-French people, furthering their conversation initially proved difficult. She explained: “I did it like every French person, when you’re asked if you speak English, you say ‘a little bit’ and then you just stop there and you don’t know what to say next.”
By the end of the evening, however, Marjorie felt as though she was already in love. She revealed: “I actually forgot that my co-worker was in front of us and I just saw Mark, and only Mark, and by the end of the evening I was totally in true love.”
Mark, who had at that point resigned himself to the single life, added: “I was obviously (attracted to Marjorie) but I had previously made a decision not to look for women and to live my life without the necessity of having a woman, a partner, because that’s just where life was going. I just wanted to be comfortable within myself. When I met Marjorie, it was lovely because I wasn’t expecting it and I didn’t know where things were going to go.”
Warning Marjorie that he ‘wasn’t looking for a girlfriend’, Mark told her that any relationship with him would mean ‘sailing around the world’ on his boat. At first, Marjorie wasn’t too sure about this idea, and wanted to date first before making her mind up.
Marjorie said: “The first day I started to be interested in him I was like ‘he’s older, what are you doing?’ But then it just goes away because physically and mentally, he doesn’t feel like an old man, sometimes I feel like I’m dating a guy who is 40 years old.”
Reflecting on the early days of their courtship, Mark shared: “I’ve been out of Australia for a while, my mother and father already passed away, so it was just my two sisters and it wasn’t a problem for me. The problem for me was meeting Marjorie’s mother and father.”
He continued: “Marjorie’s father looks very stern and when I met him, I’m thinking he’s not all right with the age difference. We’re sitting there at the table and he brings out his hunting dagger and knife collection.
“Right behind him was a furniture sideboard and right behind that was something that looked just like the butt of a pistol. I just thought if I wasn’t on my good behaviour, he’s going to pick it up and blow my head off, but it wasn’t a gun, it just looked like it.”
Offering her own perspective on this intimidating first encounter, Marjorie said: “Everyone was scared how my dad was going to react but throughout the first day, they started getting on. Everyone was tense until he pulled out the knives, then we all started to relax a bit.”
The couple have also had to deal with some ‘shocked’ looks when kissing in public, but don’t let the stares get to them. According to Marjorie: “Nobody says anything (in public) but when I met Mark, I was 28 and at that time, I tended to look younger than my age. I remember in Belgium, I kissed Mark in a restaurant and there were people next to us who looked shocked – so he said ‘kiss me again’. When we started to date, people were looking but now I look more my age.”
Remarking upon the youthful effects Marjorie’s ‘young person’s imagination’ has on him, Mark reflected: “When Marjorie is watching her shows, an anime, a horror movie, something like that, I love her imagination because it’s a young person’s imagination.
“Most people have lost their imagination by the time they’re 23 or 25 but Marjorie’s still got it and she’s going to have it when she’s 50 or 60 or 70. There’s no people I know in their 50s, 60s or 70s that have the imagination Marjorie has or the imagination that I have. The use of imagination is pivotal to our relationship because Marjorie has a young attitude and so do I.”
Before journeying over to Europe, Mark and Marjorie will spend the rest of the year exploring the US, stating that they are embarking on their ‘own adventure’ together which could take them anywhere in the world. Mark continued: “I believe that it’s more important for me to dream up and achieve my own adventures. I have taken this boat right around the world with Marjorie, we’re doing our own adventures and that is what’s important.
“On the boat, we’re right there with each other all day, every day, and we absolutely rely on each other when we’re in the middle of the ocean.”
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