Saturday, November 20, 2010

a date

I went on an actual, real date today, with someone I barely know, an internet acquaintance.

We met for coffee and conversation in the early afternoon. I found myself sitting across from an attractive woman in her early sixties, and wondering if I had anything interesting to say. I'm a little out of practice, not having done this for what? 30 Years or more?

It's certainly not like it used to be. At this stage of life there's no edge of excited anticipation, and hence no emotional roller coaster. Impetuousness is not on the menu. There was also no touching or kissing, and we parted pleasantly after making tentative plans to meet again soon, probably for dinner somewhere, maybe Japanese.

If this was typical of what dating past sixty is like, it's unfamiliar but I could learn to like it. It proceeds in a slow, cautious, dignified way; nobody's in a hurry and there is no specified goal, destination or objective. That gives the concerned parties time to be more fully human.

I never realized before now the extent to which we were all, when younger, bound to our animal bodies.

2 comments:

Joe said...

It's a good approach at any age. I have been saying for a long time that sex is a waste of life energy. Evolution doesn't care what happens to the reproducer after the job is done.

Fannybobanny said...

Congratulations for the courage to give this a try! Still has to be a touch nerve-wracking at any age.