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10. Dating at 55, Part I

© Judi S. Kaminishi

Dating at the age of 55, my age, can only be described as an interesting phenomenon. I've been single for about seventeen years now, so that fact alone should definitely qualify me to speak with some authority on the subject. I must make it clear, however, that I really only began to date seriously at the age of fifty. Prior to that my social life was sustained by going out with long time friends.

When I say, "date seriously," I mean that, before, my family and career always came first. I squeezed dates in here and there when time allowed, but for the most part, dating was not one of my major interests. My sons are currently away at college, I am content with my career, so of course now I have more time and interest in maintaining a better balanced social life.

Men!! Hmm, we women never seem to tire of talking about them. No matter what kind of history we have, what age we reach, they remain an enigma to us as we do to them, especially for those of us that are single. Well, the good news is that they are as wonderful and interesting as ever. The bad news is that they still don't have a clue about women and vice versa. So, if you're reading this article and hoping to get some insight don't get up your hopes. Rather, I'm just thinking out loud and sharing a few recent observations.

I also have to state here that this is not easy for me, sharing aspects of my personal life so publicly. I suppose I am doing so as a personal challenge, to get past old thinking and old habits.... an exercise I mentioned in one of my earlier articles.

Probably the most amazing thing I have discovered about men is that they are as ridiculous as women are when it comes to their age. They lie almost as much as women. Either they will add years to their real age, so as to not scare an older woman away, or they will subtract years, so as to not scare a younger woman, and I do qualify as both.

Let's talk about older men first. By older I mean men around my age or older of course. Recently, a friend who is sixty something, was emphasizing the fact that he plans to never "grow up". This is not the first time I have heard this from a man his age. Well, something inside of me snapped when he made this comment.

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