MARRIED Melinda and Larry Mikla have an unconventional age gap in their relationship - of 30 years
The lovestruck pair get stares everywhere they go, from passers-by who think they are dad and daughter, or worse, a granddaughter and her grandpa.
Now the couple are trying for a baby, but don’t know if it will be possible due to Larry having a vasectomy 18 years ago.
Larry, 57, was born the year the first men went into space in 1961 and is even older than the parents of his 27-year-old beautiful bride, Mindy, who was born when Madonna was topping the charts.
The pair met when retired police officer Larry was the first responder to a minor traffic incident involving Mindy’s car in Ohio, USA, in August 2012.
Melinda, who is mostly known by Mindy, told Barcroft TV: “I think maybe I have a thing for a man in uniform. I was thinking, ’Oh my gosh, I wonder if the officer is gonna be really cute’ and Larry popped out of the police car.
“At first I thought, ‘Oh he is cute, though maybe he’s a little too old for me.”
But it seems the stars were to align for the pair, despite the three decades between them.
Larry told Barcroft TV: “I have won the lottery with Mindy. We had a lot of phone calls back and forth because of problems gathering all the info for the crash report and Mindy’s insurance company.
“I would call her when my shift ended and try to speed up the process. I didn’t mind, of course.”
The pair started flirting and soon they were going on secret dates, trying their best to hide the relationship from their families and friends.
They became more serious, going on dates to obscure locations where nobody they knew would see them.
But it took a whole YEAR of trysting before they started to tell the people in their lives about their true feelings for each other.
“I won’t lie,’ said Mindy. “Originally it made me nervous. All my friends were dating guys that were my age.
“I used to get so worried about holding his hand in public or kissing him.”
Mindy’s mother Julia Pratt, 46, is 11 years younger than her now son-in-law.
When she became one of the first people Mindy told, she thought her daughter was just going through an older guy phase.
Mindy said: “She didn’t try to stop it, but suggested I try dating some boys my own age, to make sure I was doing the right thing.
“I did and almost broke Larry’s heart,” she said. “But it worked out well, because I found myself instantly comparing them to Larry, and they just didn’t measure up. I would think about him all the time.
“I went back to him and we decided to tell everyone.”
The news would receive mixed reactions from their loved ones and Mindy’s brother Jimmy, 23 took it the hardest.
He said: “It was a bit of a shock walking into the house to see some 50-year-old dude with my sister.
“Plus all my friends would say, ‘Your sister is so beautiful. What is she doing with him?’
“He is not rich. I thought she could at least get a rich Bill Gates type. I didn’t like him at all at first.”
Larry eventually won the whole family over and the pair were married in September 2016 at the Ohio State Reformatory, where they had their most special first dates.
Mindy runs a Harry Potter fan-page called Minx Mindy on Youtube and even revealed the relationship to curious fans from her thousands of online followers, answering questions about being in an age-gap relationship.
Now happily married and having relocated from Ohio to Florida, to be closer to Mindy’s family, the pair want to start a family of their own.
But there’s a major hitch to overcome, in that Larry had a vasectomy 18 years ago when his ex-wife told him their one child, Bruce, 27, was enough.
“I completely knew Larry couldn’t have children when we met, and I was ok with it,” said Mindy.
“Then about a month before we got married I went into panic mode thinking, I’m getting married and now I’m supposed to have a family.”
Larry has agreed but is still coming to terms with the idea he may not be the genetic father, and the implications of being parents with a large age gap.
Larry said: “I don’t know how active I would be in PTA or anything, but I imagine it will draw attention at sports day where I’m surrounded by other parents 30 years younger.
Larry and Mindy explored some options in a consultation last month with Dr Doug Stein, from Vasectomy and Reversal Centers of Florida.
They found that even though the reversal procedure has a good chance of success, Larry’s sperm and semen quality might be reduced due to his age.
Dr Stein said: “Mindy has a pretty high likelihood of getting pregnant by virtue of her youth.
“Therefore, even if his semen quality isn’t as good as it once might have been, Mindy has such a strong chance of becoming pregnant and with Larry being in good health otherwise, they are pretty good candidates. Whether they want to take on the challenge of having a child when he’s 57, only he can determine.”
The couple are planning to make their decision soon on whether to try for a baby.
Mindy said: “We are looking at a $6000 procedure with the vasectomy reversal and it would give us a chance of having a baby where we are both genetic parents. But even if the reversal is successful, it’s not going to guarantee the pregnancy, so it could be a risk.
“Using a sperm donor, which is $2000, would be much cheaper and has a much higher chance of success, but we need to discuss this idea in more detail. It’s a big decision.”
Source: barcroft.tv
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