A number
Age.
It divides us all.
Yesterday I playfully suggested a date with someone who is 22, but I hoped it would not be taken seriously, as I could only imagine the ick factor for her if that were the case.
Yes, there is Tom Cruise. Thankfully I am not Tom Cruise, for it seems horrifying to me to have this manufactured image hanging over me 24/7, paparazzi vultures circling. Not to say that he is good or bad. I'll never know him.
Yes, I've dated outside my societal norm, and it was fine overall.
Yes, I know a 35-year-old woman who slept with a 19-year-old. And I slept with her. And I do recall the "you're sleeping with everyone your partner ever slept with" line from whatever scare-of-the-week government program that was.
That last woman said to me, on our first date, "My friends tell me I don't look my age." My first thought was, yes, yes you do. :-) She had kept in good shape, to be sure, but as scrawny as she was after 3 kids, the eyes never lie.
Someone who dated me said to me, "My friends tell me that you (Vince) don't look as old as you are." If I've had enough sleep, and I'm a happy guy, I can see the young me in the mirror, but I have no illusions that I am really anything other than what I am.
Although I know that society devalues women who age, and men "only get more distinguished", I am eternally reminded of that creepy old guy who used to stand by the side of the dance floor watching all the fine young women. I don't want to be that guy.
It divides us all.
Yesterday I playfully suggested a date with someone who is 22, but I hoped it would not be taken seriously, as I could only imagine the ick factor for her if that were the case.
Yes, there is Tom Cruise. Thankfully I am not Tom Cruise, for it seems horrifying to me to have this manufactured image hanging over me 24/7, paparazzi vultures circling. Not to say that he is good or bad. I'll never know him.
Yes, I've dated outside my societal norm, and it was fine overall.
Yes, I know a 35-year-old woman who slept with a 19-year-old. And I slept with her. And I do recall the "you're sleeping with everyone your partner ever slept with" line from whatever scare-of-the-week government program that was.
That last woman said to me, on our first date, "My friends tell me I don't look my age." My first thought was, yes, yes you do. :-) She had kept in good shape, to be sure, but as scrawny as she was after 3 kids, the eyes never lie.
Someone who dated me said to me, "My friends tell me that you (Vince) don't look as old as you are." If I've had enough sleep, and I'm a happy guy, I can see the young me in the mirror, but I have no illusions that I am really anything other than what I am.
Although I know that society devalues women who age, and men "only get more distinguished", I am eternally reminded of that creepy old guy who used to stand by the side of the dance floor watching all the fine young women. I don't want to be that guy.
posted by v @ 2:17 AM
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