How friends with big age gaps benefit each other – 4 pairs share their stories
There are many potential benefits to an age-gap friendship – though these pairs would likely say they’re just in it for the enjoyment
Peggy Cheng recalls the time a television writer pitched her a wacky sitcom revolving around the unlikely scenario of a young woman who had befriended her elderly neighbours.
Cheng, who was working in TV development at the time, was not impressed.
“She thought it was so unique and I was like, ‘Hmm,’” says the 40-year-old California resident, laughing.
After all, the writer could have been describing Cheng’s life.
Her best friend, Karen Lektzian, lives in the unit above hers and is 24 years her senior. They even had a meet-cute: a leaky toilet brought them together. But their difference in age has not stopped the two from being active participants in each other’s lives.
As it turns out, age-gap friendships like Cheng and Lektzian’s may be more common than many of us think.
A 2019 survey by the American Association of Retired Persons found that nearly four in 10 US adults have a close friend who is at least 15 years older or younger than they are.
