Dating in your 50s in QUOTIDIEN

‘Damn, Sharon - if I knew then what I know now, things would be a WHOLE LOT DIFFERENT, let me tell ya!’

If you haven’t said something similar, you’ve thought it - you know you have! It has been foremost in my mind since I’ve reintroduced myself back into the dating scene. Because, you know, wisdom just automatically comes with age, yeah?

No! No, it does not. You can know things now that you didn’t know then....but when it comes to the application of that wisdom with a gender who appears to have missed that bus, you discover that the only difference is that you might have learned to say ‘NO’ with a little more conviction than when you were 16. I said, ‘maybe’.

I was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that since I am looking for men in their fifties, I would be dealing with adults who could think beyond their penises. Turns out, they’ve either reverted to adolescence in a subconscious, last ditch effort to propagate their seed before death - or they’re just perpetual adolescents.

For the sake of fairness, I’m going to say that I have become quite aware, if not completely at the mercy of, my own sexuality, and wonder about the where and why of its sudden and vehement resurgence, making level-headed decisions as difficult as, say, moving the Canadian Rockies with a mere twitch of my nose. I have gone against my own better judgment, and given in to the urge - instilling in me a little more understanding of my male counterparts.

I am SO not in the (dating) game to make friends with benefits, which seems to be the prevalent goal of those I’ve met thus far. I guess what I’m engaging in now is a little bit of recon work in an effort to determine what, exactly, I’m looking for in a man.

Last updated December 29, 2014