I go out once a week, maybe, and my mother still sends Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlets and shows concern for the fact that I’ll never meet my future husband unless I stop being such a party girl. Meanwhile, over in Rotherham, UK, a pair of 83-year-olds named Jack and Jean Atkinson are raving three nights a week until 3am. The couple has been married for 64 years—they met in 1945 and got married 15 days later. They have three kids and four grandkiddies, but nothing can keep them from living their lives to the fullest. Which, to them, includes clubbing. As Jack says, “Where is it written that when you reach a certain age you can’t do this or shouldn’t do that—it’s rubbish it is all in the mind…We’re old in age but young at heart.”

If you ever get down about being single, things could be worse. You could be Statia Kealy, a 106-year-old woman who lives in Ireland and has been single her entire life. But she’s still hopeful. When the photographer for an Irish newspaper took her picture, she said, “I hope you find me a man with that photo.” If she doesn’t meet a guy, though, she’s not worried: “Those that get married do well, but those that don’t do better.” Is that some kind of famous saying? Or should we attribute the quote to Statia whenever we repeat it under our breath at weddings. [The Nationalist via Lemondrop]

Sexually-active people aged 50 and older face a greater risk of HIV infection, according to a study published by the World Health Organization. People in this age group are more likely to engage in unprotected sex than younger people—after all, after menopause, she can’t get pregnant!—plus erectile dysfunction drugs, like Viagra, are keeping their sex lives active. But despite all this, screening by doctors for HIV is less common for older people because it’s assumed they aren’t at risk. Also, the period of time between diagnosis and the onset of AIDS is shorter because age quickens the progression of the disease and doctors don’t consider HIV as a diagnosis. The WHO also found that older women seem to have a greater risk of contracting HIV if they have unprotected sex because the vaginal mucous membrane thins with age and can get tiny tears without proper lubrication.

Competition is stiff in the porn industry (Get it? Stiff? Ha.), and specializing is really the way to go. Since most porn features strapping, young men and women, the niche that’s more open—and actually doing quite well in Japan—is that involving old people. The stars are balding or gray, their skin sagging, but stars like Shigeo Tokuda, 74, have no problem undressing for the camera. Shigeo has appeared in about 350(!) adult films over the past 14 years, and his wife and daughter have no idea. Elder-porn seems to appeal to older people who can’t relate to the young ‘uns, and younger people like it because there is this something that only an older generation has and the young people do not possess,” said director Gaichi Kono. Sadly though, there is age discrimination in this line of work. While a popular young actress might earn $100,000 per film, a “mature” one might only be paid $2,000. That’s why it’s so important to love your job. [Time]

Love stories about old people make us happy—why do you think Titanic and The Notebook did so well?—and a story in the Guardian this week could easily become Gena Rowlands’ next movie. Almost 70 years ago, a woman and her fiancé got into a huge fight just months before their wedding date. Violet Booth was so upset that she threw her diamond ring away, but she and her fiancé, Samuel, made up almost immediately and tried desperately to find the ring, to no avail. Fast forward seven decades. Violet’s grandson, whose hobby is metal detecting, searched the area and found the ring in just two hours. “I went round to my Nan’s with some maps and she managed to pinpoint the field. Then I got permission from the landowner and headed out. It was buried three to four inches down, and it wasn’t even damaged. I just had to give it a wipe,” the grandson said. And the discovery brought Violet, who has been a widow 15 years, to tears: “I was in such a state when we couldn’t find it. Samuel didn’t tell me off—he wasn’t like that. We got a new one, but it’s not the same, is it?” [Guardian U.K.]