I’m a 25 year old grandma and still a fancy husband like I’m a teenager – this is our secret
It’s Wednesday night and Tracy Lewis is putting the finishing touches on her makeup.
She walks downstairs in her heels and midi dress and is greeted by her husband Pete, who is smartly dressed in a shirt and armed with a bottle of prosecco and a box of chocolates.
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“You look beautiful,” he beams.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” Tracy replies with a twinkle in her eye.
It’s a night out, something this couple has been participating in every week for 43 years.
Last week, a middle-aged woman revealed that she had been planning to leave her sexless marriage for six years and hand it over to her “selfish” husband.
Children whose parents have left home are getting divorced en masse. Since the nineties, the number of divorces among the over-fifties has doubled.
But Tracy and Pete buck the trend.
‘Great kisser’
And the secret, according to Tracy, lies between the sheets.
The couple have 13 children and 25 grandchildren, but have had a busy sex life throughout their 43-year relationship.
“We do it three times a week,” says Tracy, 60, who lives in Bournemouth.
“You hear about couples falling apart at certain stages in life: when the kids are there, when they leave home, when menopause hits.
“Well, that hasn’t been the case with us.
“Pete is still as sexy as the day I first saw him.
“I can’t keep my hands off him, and being a mother of 13 and a grandmother of 25 hasn’t stopped that.
“When you love someone like we love each other, the thrill of making love never goes away.
“I still see that sparkle in my eyes at 60.
“Pete knows the cheeky grin I get when I’m in a mischievous mood.
“We love a night out or a walk.
“Pete buys me prosecco and chocolates and then we sit on the couch together and watch a box set.
“If you’re not having sex as often as we do at 60, you’re missing out.”
Receptionist Tracy and bus designer Pete, 65, met on a nightclub dance floor in July 1981 when she was 17 and he was 22.
“We were made for each other,” says Tracy.
“He was a great kisser.”
After three months they moved in together and almost two years later their first child Carly was born.
Six months later, a few weeks after their wedding in December 1983, Tracy became pregnant with their second child, Tracy Junior.
The children kept coming.
After Carly, now 41, and Tracy Junior, now 39, came Samantha, 37, only son Charles, 37, Lyndsay, 36, Danielle, 34, Chantelle, 33, Charlotte, 30, Georgia, 30, Candice, 28, Shannon, 25, Shaznay, 23, and Porsha, 21.
Pete was so good when I was pregnant and also a mother.
Tracy Lewis
While many new mothers put sex on the back burner, Tracy didn’t, who had her 13th child at age 40.
“Being pregnant, giving birth and holding a newborn baby in my arms was a joyful experience,” she says.
“It has rekindled my sexual desire.
“I started feeling broody within five weeks of giving birth, after each baby.
“Pete was so good when I was pregnant and also became a mother,” she says.
“He prepared dinner, helped with cleaning and childcare.
“He brought me flowers and it made me like him even more.
“Many men don’t help with the babies or the housework.
“Many new mothers are angry about their husbands’ lack of support, so it’s no surprise that this affects the love lives of many couples.
“We weren’t like that.
“My broodiness made me want Pete.
“I loved being a mother and I loved having sex with him.”
After their first child was born, they asked a doctor how long they should wait before they could have sex.
They were told it would take six weeks, but after that they stuck to that rule with every child.
And fatigue could not suppress Tracy’s longing.
She says: “I was lucky that I never needed much sleep, my body adapted.”
Tracy admits there were days when she was completely shattered, but adds: “The combination of work and motherhood helped me stay energised.
“Today, too many new mothers are worried about their lives, instead of getting on with their lives.
‘Beautiful and brutal’
“My adult children are all great, no-nonsense parents, but some moms these days are more concerned about Instagram posts and being the ‘perfect’ family.
“They put too much pressure on themselves.
“For Pete and me, parenting is a two-way street. It’s teamwork.”
As the family grew and the children got older, the logistics of intimacy became more difficult.
“In the beginning we slept in a room with two beds and we had two children in our room, the other two shared the room,” says Tracy.
But she adds: “We’ve been creative with adult time.
“The living room, the bathroom and even the laundry room were places where we had some privacy and didn’t wake the kids.
“We have always been spontaneous and kept an ear open for a crying baby.
“There wasn’t much time for long sessions.
“When all the children were home, we had to be quick and choose the quietest place.
“Even when we moved to a five-bedroom house in 2011, it was full of kids.
“We used to try to make adult time whenever we could.
“We knew each other’s rhythm and Pete knew when I was in the mood and when I wasn’t.”
Their children have all left home and have families.
Tracy Junior has nine children, continuing the family tradition of having a large family.
While many couples struggle with the empty nest, Tracy and Pete embrace it.
I like Pete more every day. I’m not afraid to talk about it.
Tracy Lewis
“Our sex life is great,” she says.
“People would be surprised to think that a woman who has given birth to thirteen children can have an amazing love life, but I had that when I was younger and I still have it.
“I am proud of that.
“I’m getting more excited about Pete every day.
“I’m not afraid to talk about it.
“It’s important for people to know that love and a great love life are possible, even if you have a large family and are in your 60s.”
She even goes so far as to say that sex is the reason their relationship has endured for forty years, despite the inevitable hardships of a long-term relationship.
“It’s one of the reasons our marriage has lasted,” she says.
“I know a number of couples who were overwhelmed by the idea of having children.
Their intimacy and adulthood faded into the background and before they knew it, their love life was non-existent. Or menopause hits and couples are divorced.
“Pete and I are very lucky.
“Yes, as we age our bodies change, but who cares?
“And I’m lucky that menopause hasn’t affected me too much.
“We enjoy each other and communicate as well as we did in our twenties.
“Pete still says I’m handsome and sassy.
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“I always pay a lot of attention to my hair, make-up and clothes.
“Pete is so kind and loving.
“I believe in keeping your man happy, because it makes me happy. And he’s a diamond.”
Pete says, “I remember the night I met Tracy.
“She twirled around on the dance floor, her blond hair blowing in the wind.
“I looked straight into her eyes and thought she was so beautiful.
“We clicked right away.
“We had our first kiss.
“We both knew it was love.
“Tracy was and is always full of energy. Nothing stops her.
“Sometimes I wondered where she got all her energy from, after taking care of the children, to still have time for me.
“We adore each other and talk about everything.
“Tracy is my absolute love.
“She is an amazing woman, mother and grandmother and even today she still runs around at 100 miles an hour.
“She and I adore each other.
“Date nights and making love keep the spark burning.
“I like to surprise her with flowers and special dinners for a night out.
“Even if we just take a walk on the beach and kiss, our spark won’t go out.”
