Oh Hef!

Celebrity marriages, divorces and engagements are huge in the news as 2010 comes to a close with ol' Playboy Magazine founder, Hugh Hefner, being the latest with his engagement to his 24-year-old girlfriend.

While I can't say a whole lot against the fact Hugh is engaged to be married for a third time, as I'll soon explain. The May-December impending nuptials certainly put a kink in my eyebrow.

I like how one individual on Facebook commented on the situation. "May-December? This is more like Stone Age-Computer Age."

Being that I was left for a much younger woman I find myself immediately wanton to jump on the bandwagon of, "Gross!"

"Insanity!"

"It's all about the money!"

... and with the visual of a bag of liquid Viagra hung from a bedpost.

The thing is I've made a New Year's resolution to be less judgmental in 2011, which is a tough one for yours truly, especially when someone the like, or rather the age, of Hef is engaged to someone young enough to be his great-great-granddaughter.

If this were an arranged marriage people would have a lot more to say than, "Ewww!"

Yet, we've two adults here in the decision-making process, though we are not quite so sure about the coherency of either. I'd like to immediately point out the age of both as if I hadn't done so already. That Hef is far too old to know any better and the bride-to-be being way too young to know any better.

Okay, that doesn't work because Hef seems to have all his faculties in place and at twenty-four we would hope she has a little bit of knowledge beneath the belt.

I'm sure there is a pun in there somewhere?

How can we really say what either is thinking or how either party feels unless we've been there?

I know, it doesn't make it any easier to swallow but I for one have to look at it in such a way. After all, I'm a twice-married, twice-divorced mother of two at thirty-six years of age.

Once upon a time, I had plenty to say about divorcees before I went through a divorce.

I still had plenty to say about repeated divorce and married individuals until I went through my second divorce and thought it best to put my opinions out to pasture.

I had to shut up, because far be it from the likes of me to pass any kind of judgment on someone's marriage or their divorce; no matter how many numbers may follow either. And that's how a lot of things in life goes, until we walk in someone else's shoes we've really no idea how they feel, what they want, or whether they are marrying out of true love or for the checkbook.

If there's anything to learn about such situations is that we really don't have any business judging others.

We can, however, be unbelievably thankful, there's nothing wrong with thankfulness. Such as, I'm so thankful that's not my twenty-four year old daughter about to marry an eighty-four-year old man!

The mother of two munchkins, Bethany J. Royer is an independent contractor and writer currently studying psychology with Florida Institute of Technology. She is actively seeking a publisher for her first completed novel while working on a memoir about her personal trials and tribulations with divorce. She blogs prolifically at motherofthemunchkins.blogspot.com and can be reached at themotherofthemunchkins@yahoo.com.