Should Love Be Tied to Numbers?

To start with, love is very personal to be tied by numbers or certain rules to guide marriages, because at the end of the day, rules do not keep a marriage but commitment, love, respect, etc. However, marriage is not for children, definitely not for immature minds, for many reasons. When it comes to marriageable range as a topic of discussion, a lot of people have different views about it. Coincidentally, two of my friends and I had this conversation just two weeks ago. Something prompted it, a practical life experience someone too close to me is going through due to some certain decisions in marriage she made ten years ago. She said, "Nkem, I know you are going through a lot currently, but permit me to share my unspoken worries with you".  ***** When she began talking about how the big age gap in her marriage has started to affect her deeply, I pleaded to add Flora, one of our friends, to the WhatsApp call; it became a conference call. Flora is blessed with many wisdom, and I needed her to assist with the whole drama going on. So this lady is my agemate, but **her husband is 26 years older than her**. You may ask why she made such a decision about such an age gap in marriage, right? She opened up to us that it was all for his money because he is a very wealthy man. She never loved the man or his appearance, but only his money. ***** Her ten years in marriage with the man have been nothing but chaos; now she is calling because her level of infidelity is going crazy. Obviously, the energy level of the man is just too low for her liking; there are numerous complaints, and she started cheating seriously on the man with her ex. This act has birthed many troubles, and she is looking for a way out. It's still a work in progress anyways, but we shall see the end soon. ***** Having said that, there are still couples with almost the same age gap in marriage who are thriving very well in their marriages; there is joy, happiness, and fulfillment within them, and respect and commitment to make their marriage work. So if we should apply a rule of marriage range, such a union wouldn't have existed, right? So a rule would have deprived such a couple from living their life.  ***** On this note, I would say that there shouldn't be an age range within which people should be permitted to marry. Let there be freedom for everyone to go for the one they love, whether younger or older; it doesn't matter. Number or age gap doesn't keep a home, like I mentioned earlier, but mutual respect, genuine love, and understanding do. As long as both people involved can keep to the ingredients that make a marriage work, why not? ***** But I must stress that marriage isn't advisable for children and immature minds no matter any circumstances that could trigger such a decision at a younger age. Child marriage should be a no-no! *This is my response to the #HiveLearners community contest on the topic titled*, **MARRIAGEABLE RANGE**. _{*Image one was generated by me on bing.com while image two was generated using Meta AI*}