A "teacher's pet" got engaged to her favourite schoolteacher - despite a 25 year age gap which sees them mistaken for grandmother and granddaughter.
Monica Ketchum, 31, decided to search for her favourite teacher from school on Facebook 16 years after she left school to see how she was doing.
When Michelle Foster, 56 - who taught Monica science in 2004 - got a message on Facebook from her former student, she was shocked.
But the pair bonded over lunch and quickly became close friends.
Michelle had been in a relationship with a woman in the past, and Monica had just come out as gay too.
Their supportive friendship became more intense until it became clear there was a romantic connection - despite their unusual connection and 25 year age gap.
Monica proposed in September 2022 and then Michelle returned the favour by popping the question back the following month.
The couple say they are mistaken for mother and daughter "several times every day" and one stranger even mistook Michelle as Monica's grandmother, but they shrug it off - and say now they "don't even notice" the age gap.
And even though they are targeted by trolls, who claim Michelle 'groomed' Monica, they say it couldn't be further from the truth.
Monica, a forklift driver and content creator, from Big Rapids, Michigan, US, said: "Michelle was my seventh-grade teacher and she was my favourite - I was a teacher's pet.
"We didn’t have any relationship besides her being a good teacher - until I reached out on Facebook 16 years later.
"I've always been attracted to older people, so the gap wasn't an issue for me, but Michelle worried about it at first.
"People always ask if she's my mum - I even recently designed a t-shirt saying 'no, she's not my mum'.
"I try to let it go but it does hurt - age doesn’t matter to us, so why does it matter to other people?"
Monica Ketchum, 31, decided to search for her favourite teacher from school on Facebook 16 years after she left school to see how she was doing.
When Michelle Foster, 56 - who taught Monica science in 2004 - got a message on Facebook from her former student, she was shocked.
But the pair bonded over lunch and quickly became close friends.
Michelle had been in a relationship with a woman in the past, and Monica had just come out as gay too.
Their supportive friendship became more intense until it became clear there was a romantic connection - despite their unusual connection and 25 year age gap.
Monica proposed in September 2022 and then Michelle returned the favour by popping the question back the following month.
The couple say they are mistaken for mother and daughter "several times every day" and one stranger even mistook Michelle as Monica's grandmother, but they shrug it off - and say now they "don't even notice" the age gap.
And even though they are targeted by trolls, who claim Michelle 'groomed' Monica, they say it couldn't be further from the truth.
Monica, a forklift driver and content creator, from Big Rapids, Michigan, US, said: "Michelle was my seventh-grade teacher and she was my favourite - I was a teacher's pet.
"We didn’t have any relationship besides her being a good teacher - until I reached out on Facebook 16 years later.
"I've always been attracted to older people, so the gap wasn't an issue for me, but Michelle worried about it at first.
"People always ask if she's my mum - I even recently designed a t-shirt saying 'no, she's not my mum'.
"I try to let it go but it does hurt - age doesn’t matter to us, so why does it matter to other people?"
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