Quote:
Originally Posted by VILLAGERBB
(Post 2373928)
Any thoughts? The show makes dating look like an overwhelming process.
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Anyone 65 or older who has been in the dating pool, whether in person or online, knows there are going to be disappointments. It’s a learning experience, too, complicated by the fact that the clock is ticking. Yes, it can be overwhelming, especially for men and women who haven’t had a date in decades.
There have been times when I chose to see it as fun. I found women on the online dating sites. (More commonly, they contacted me.) We met at a good restaurant for dinner. We both dressed up. We both had a nice time. I walked them to their car and thanked them and said goodbye. That was it. That was enough—until I came to see it as another disappointment. If I maintain a good attitude, it’s pleasant. If I don’t, it can seem hopeless. I went out once with about twenty women before I found one I wanted to see again or wanted to kiss. Turned out she was 78, but we were both great kissers. We went out weekly for a couple months and talked nightly on the phone. Then she decided she wanted a guy her own age who wanted to live with her. That couldn’t be me.
Another twenty women later, I found someone else, this time my age, 70. We are still close friends, but no longer dating. She decided she wanted someone who loved to dance and swim and ride bikes. So she started dating another guy who said he loved those things. Turned out he is such a good dancer that he doesn’t like to dance with her, and he’s a narcissist, and not very bright.
Meanwhile, we have both realized that we love our lives alone and can’t stand to be around people very often. An hour a day is too much. We love our homes the way they are and don’t want to blend households with anyone. That’s good to know. I’ve given up dating because most women here, I think, aren’t dating for a pleasant time but because they are looking for something I can’t really provide. I hate to disappoint people. Count the cost. Apply the Hedonic Calculus. Would the pleasure you take in being with someone honestly make up for the frustration you would feel when being with someone all the time? I think often the happiest long term marriages are between people who don’t have much imagination. They get married, harness themselves to the plow together, and just pull together without glancing at the other side of the fence. It’s those who imagine they could do better who get divorced.
On rare occasions I look closely at my face in the mirror. Not often, but on occasion. It startles me. I don’t want a woman to see me that closely. Why would she want to? And I look at the women on these dating sites. Many have given themselves “digital facelifts” with some app, wiping away all their wrinkles and looking like kabuki actors. Any man who thinks the women really look like that is bound to be disappointed. I prefer women without makeup. Then there are the fit, sporty women whose skin on their arms is stringy, like bones in a sack. Or the women with all these hanging folds here and there. If that is what I’m seeing in them, probably that is what they are seeing in me. I don’t want to be seen that way. I want to see someone’s eyes light up when I appear. They used to. And then there are those who lie about their ages on the dating sites—sometimes by ten years. Who do they think they are fooling? (And I hear men do the same thing, but I don’t.) I don’t like liars, even if it’s about age. How can I trust them.
So I’m no longer dating. I’m happier alone. I’m not looking for a Golden Bachelorette.