His Midlife Crisis. Her Midlife Crisis. How About Midlife Love?

When a man turns 40, he begins to look to new horizons. When Melanie Gideon's husband became excited over a Ford E-350 with captain's seats, she knew she should consider herself lucky. What man would happily choose a family van as his mid-life crisis vehicle over a Porshe Carrera GT?

As the number of her friends' divorces mounted, she couldn't help but reevaluate her own marriage. "Do I want more? Does he? And how do I know if what I have is enough?"

Her lack of enthusiasm had her wondering if she was having a midlife crisis.

Her husband was wooing her with a diesel engine, but what he really wanted was to find a way to rekindle there sense of adventure and recapture a taste of their vagabond 20s.

Sometimes, midlife love is nothing more than sharing activities you enjoyed together before life got in the way.

See A Diesel Engine Woke Up Our Marriage in The New York Times Style Section, 11/18/2007.