Sarajean Grainson has three adult children and a 2-year-old son, only the latter by her current husband David. And now, she is urging women over age 50 to live their dreams
"Anyone over 50, don't jump out of planes or go to the Caribbean for your retirement. Have a baby!" exclaimed Grainson.
Sarajean and David recently became the proud parents of twins Matthew and David. But their love story is quite unusual.
Already the parents of 2-year-old Luke, the couple accepted donor eggs and embraced the in-vitro fertilization process as a way to grow their family. What distinguishes them is that Sarajean will be 54 years old in less than a month and David, 12 years her junior, had spent three years working as a Catholic priest in the West Indies.
The Grainsons met at a youth ministry retreat in 1998. As a 33-year-old priest, David was already beginning to question the inherent good and necessity of a vow of mandatory celibacy. Sarajean, then age 45, was the mother of three children: Christine, now age 28; Jeanna, 22, and Nicholas, 31.
After David left the church, the two were married on December 1, 2001. Relying on an egg donor and in-vitro fertilization, the couple gave birth to Luke, on December 23, 2006.
"As much as I was called father -- Father Grainson, Father David -- I knew nothing about what it meant to be a father," David Grainson said.
Since leaving the priesthood, David has worked as a social worker and is now the assistant director for a private, non-for-profit organization that helps families in crisis. He says that experiencing love and fatherhood has given him a greater understanding of the real meanings of love, compassion and commitment.
For her part, Sarajean maintains that women over age 50 should not give up on the idea of finding "Mr. Right" and starting a second family.
"This is all about personal choice," she says.
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WEB PRODUCED BY: Bill King
NEW YORK AND TRI-STATE AREA NEWS
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