Despite a three-decade age gap, a Missouri couple proved that age does not matter when you are in love.
Back in 2012, Kasey Bergh, 55, was trying to text a co-worker back when her message popped up on 26-year-old Henry Glendening’s number instead.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kacey was on a business trip in Denver, trying to get in touch with a fellow employee – but she accidentally texted Henry’s number instead.
Henry was on his way to work back in Missouri when he got the text message.
Instead of ending the conversation, Kasey texted back and explained that she was annoyed to be stuck waiting to work on an important project.
“I was so frustrated because I couldn’t connect with anyone, and then the only person on the planet I connect with was the wrong number,” Kasey said.
To Kasey’s surprise, Henry continued to text her back, too. Eventually telling her about a road trip he had come up. The two texted back and forth, talking about their interests, favorite books, and movies.
Henry asked Kasey if she’d ever heard of the book The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne, which discusses the idea of the law of attraction,’ she replied that she had, and was actually a fan.
“In my experience, a lot of people don’t believe in that kind of stuff,” Henry told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “They think the world is what it is and they feel the law of attraction is a silly belief.”
Henry and Kasey seemed to have a lot of interests in common and kept their text exchanges up for a week more.
Age didn’t come up immediately, though they did exchange pictures, when Henry first asked Kacey how old she was, she simply answered that she was ’25 in my heart’.
It wasn’t until they decided to meet personally that she confessed to being 53, Henry didn’t care.
“It really didn’t make any difference,” Henry said. “We were so connected at that point through deeper stuff.”
After their first meet-up, they moved on to a concert, where Henry stood behind Kasey and put his hands on her hips. Kasey knew that was the moment their relationship grew into more than just a friendship.
After their second date, Henry was set to leave for his trip which was supposed to last ten days. He told Kasey that he wouldn’t be in touch during the trip because he was supposed to be finding himself – but it didn’t take long for him to break his word.
While Henry was in Utah, he sent Kasey a voice memo saying ‘I love you’, and ended up coming home from the trip a few days early so he could see her.
Kasey realized that many people would think saying those words too early in a relationship was ‘over-the-top’, but for her, it felt right.
Kasey had been divorced for six years and had come to terms with the idea that she wouldn’t find love again, but Henry managed to change that with romantic gestures.
Their relationship continued to move at a fast pace, and within two months, Henry moved out of his parent’s house and moved into Kasey’s apartment.
“My parents were accepting from the start. We were happy, healthy, and they’ve always known me to be my own person even if it is in a nontraditional way,” Henry told Daily Mail Online. “I’m sure my parents recognize a vast age difference between us, but I don’t think I ever told them how old she is.”
On the other hand, Kacey’s parents were also supportive as well as her two stepdaughters, one of whom is the same age as Henry, while the other is four years older than him.
At first, the couple worried that people would think that Henry was Kasey’s son, but over time they’ve learned to just live with it.
“Both with people we know, and strangers, sometimes think I’m her son,” Henry explained. “Several people swore that I must be her son and wouldn’t believe we’re in a relationship – both friends and strangers.”
While they both know their relationship is unusual, they also believe that things happen for a reason – so they didn’t give up.
After two years of dating, Henry finally proposed. Henry took Kasey to the restaurant where they’d had drinks on their first date and asked an employee to play Kasey’s favorite song, Thank You by Led Zeppelin. He got down on one knee and gave her a ring.
“As the Universe would have it, Henry & I ended up being a perfect match, although [our ages are] decades apart [sic],” Kasey wrote on Facebook.
The two got married a year later.
“All in all, everyone has been very supportive and accepting of us,” Henry added. “Both of us are fairly unconventional people, and those we surround ourselves with definitely accept that.”