In the grand scheme of things, perhaps Al and Tipper Gore’s separation isn’t such a surprise. According to divorce attorneys and relationship counselors, three or four decades of marriage no longer seem to mean that a divorce won’t happen. Reporting a rise in “late-stage” divorces among the Baby Boom generation, experts are blaming factors from longer life spans to changing generational expectations about marriage. "I think we're seeing persons in long marriages questioning whether in fact there's a better life out there," one longtime divorce laywer said. "Baby Boomers are part of the 'Me Generation'—what's better for 'me.'" For the Gores, friends have said, it was just a matter of growing apart. "They're no longer invested in a singular life like they were before," a Manhattan psychiatrist said. "They have their separate lives and they were both relatively happy being without the other person."