Age is just a number

A woman says the 27-year age gap with her husband makes him a “better dad” to their baby despite strangers mistaking him for the boy’s grandad—or her own father

People often mistake my husband for my dad — but we laugh it off,” said Gretchen Dillon, 36, who met Michael Dillon, 63, after continuously bumping into him at the local supermarket and befriending him.

Dillon had just moved to Syracuse, NY, from Pennsylvania and was happy to have made a friend. Michael, who is two years older than Gretchen’s mom, helped her find her footing in the new city, offering her a free room and a job running his Airbnb. As the friendship blossomed, the two quickly realised that their feelings for one another were becoming romantic and eventually started dating.

“I was upset when Michael and I first slept together because in my head I didn’t think I wanted to be [with] an older man,” Dillon, a market research analyst, said. “I took some time to come to terms with it, now I’m happier than ever.” The pair said that their friends were initially “shocked” by the 27-year age gap but soon jumped on board.

“My friend tried to stop me from marrying him because she kept saying I was going to be a widow as he’s nearly 30 years older than me, but I loved him and didn’t care,” Dillon said. “The age difference is tremendously helpful in the success of our relationship,” Michael said. I’m a lot more stable and mature than I was in my 30s.” The couple did have some issues but they weren’t due to Michael’s age. 

On Thanksgiving 2017, Michael got down on one knee in front of his whole family and proposed to Dillon with a diamond ring. The Dillons shared that their friends and family have come around and support their relationship after seeing them together. The newly-weds decided they wanted to start a family together and three years later Gretchen learnt that she was pregnant.

“Michael couldn’t wait to be a father again,” she recounted. Michael doesn’t mind that people confuse him for being his daughter’s grandfather. “People think I’m Shannon’s grandad all the time but I just laugh it off,” Michael said. “I think his age makes him a better father,” she said.

Hair, there, everywhere!

The incurable “werewolf syndrome” has literally taken over this teen’s body and life, but he chooses happiness over it all

An Indian teen is opening up about being bullied his entire life due to a rare condition that caused him to sprout “werewolf” fur all over his body. “When I was young, I had people throw stones at me,” said Lalit Patidar, 17. “Kids were worried I would come back to bite them like an animal.” Patidar, who lives in Nandleta in Madhya Pradesh, suffers from hypertrichosis, which the National Library of Medicine defines as “excessive hair growth anywhere on the body”.

Patidar says he won’t let his condition prevent him from following his dreams

The ailment, which is also known as “werewolf syndrome” is extremely rare, with fewer than 100 recorded cases since the middle ages. Patidar has reportedly been suffering from the condition his “whole life” — but didn’t really notice anything was awry until adolescence. There are two distinct types of the ailment: generalised hypertrichosis, which occurs over the entire body, and the localized version, which is restricted to a specific region of the body. Hypertrichosis can be either present at birth or crop up in adulthood.

“My parents say the doctor shaved me at birth but I didn’t really notice anything was different about me until I was around 6 or 7 years old,” the high school senior explained. “That’s when I first took notice that the hair was growing all over my body like no one else I knew.” As time passed, Patidar increasingly became aware of the fact that he was different from the other kids. “As I grew up I realised that my whole body had hair and that was not like everyone else,” said the teen, who soon became the target of bullying due to his unusual appearance.

“My schoolmates used to tease me, they would shout ‘monkey monkey’ at me,” Patidar lamented. “People also tease me by calling me a ghost, they think I am a mythical being.”

You will love spicy food after this!

If you tend to reach for spicier foods, chances are you lead a spicier life, suggests a new survey of 2,000 American adults which sought to reveal if there are any personality correlations between people who are spicy food enthusiasts. Spicy food eaters are more likely to enjoy trying new things (76 per cent), consider themselves attractive (62 per cent) and are more content with their lives.

In your face, cheater

Singer-songwriter Izza, 25, plastered her face on billboards all across Los Angeles, including one strategically placed outside her ex’s house, to get revenge on the two-timer. “My ex cheated on me, so I got a billboard with my face on it in front of his apartment so he and his new girl can see me every day,” she wrote in a TikTok video.

A gift from the beyond

Influencer Jen Hamilton was shocked when she received a package from her grandmother in the mail— who had been dead for two years. She shared a video of herself cutting open the gift on TikTok, and the clip has since gone viral with almost six million views. The bundle contained a photograph of her grandmother and grandfather,  as well as a money order for $250. There was “no letter, no context, no nothing”.

Kiss of misfortune

The groom, Ian Young, has gone viral after he exposed his new bride’s “shocking” act during his wedding speech. He decided to surprise his new wife Katie by sharing the brutally honest story about how the newly-weds met while he made his wedding toast. Young stated that they met at the cricket club, but shortly after their first kiss the night took a turn. When Young returned to give her the drink, he found Katie kissing another guy. The video has since amassed over 1.6 million views since it was shared on Sunday, leaving many gobsmacked.

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