By Annie Marron
An interesting phenomenon of online dating is that your (well maybe my) age barrier gets blown to pieces. My current profile says I’m open to meeting people ages 27-49. That means if fate were particularly cruel, I could potentially date someone and their dad in the same week. Hmmm.
What gives with the range?
When I first went online, my profile stated I only wanted to meet people within a 3-year radius of my age. But then I found that regardless of my preferences and their time on this planet, dudes would send me messages. Apparently I’m in that 30-something sweet spot that covers everyone’s bases. Like the center of a Venn Diagram.
So after a couple of months of ignoring any messages from fellas that I thought weren’t “age appropriate”, I gave up the ghost and opened up my spectrum. The results? Pretty damn good. I got a message from the previously mentioned Eedris. He said that although he was younger than I wanted (26), he thought we would be a great match and went on to list all these great reasons why. He was sexy, smart, and seemed interesting so I swam across the age barrier. We ended up dating for 4 months and having a super fun time together. Who knew? Apparently age is only a number.
Not so in all the cases. I recently got a message from a 21-year-old boy. 21! That’s just silly. He can barely vote. Further proof of our incompatibility? One of his profile pictures was of him smiling, getting a diploma with the caption, “9th Grade." Haha! Is he insane? How is that appealing to any non-crazy woman?
But swinging back the other direction, I did go out with a 22 year old, Joe. I know, I know. It made sense at the time. I swear to you. My roommate (male, by the way) made me do it. Joe had written this eloquent message all about how he was young but I was fabulous (Flattery! So effective!), and about his start-up company, and what he was doing in his life. He was cute, smart, and seemed interesting (do you see a trend here?), so I went for it. We totally had a steamy make out session on a park bench after the date. But as he rode off on his 10-speed bike (no car), to his shared studio (with a fellow college student), I acknowledged that I would never go out with him again. He, however, was highly motivated. Although I made it really clear the following day that he was too young, he continued to text me (unanswered) throughout the year on major holidays. He also let me know when he turned 23, as though that would bring me around. “I know you might hate me, but I just wanted you to know I’m 23 now.” So awesome. Oh Joe, I hope you found yourself a nice co-ed to play with.
In reading this, it may seem my opening up has only skewed in one direction. Not so! I have dated some fabulous men in their 40’s. Honestly that makes more long-term sense connection-wise. Older men know what they’re doing and are pretty great at being gentlemen. Either way, follow my lead, date outside your comfort zone! You might just meet someone amazing.
And c’mon now, Johnny Depp is 50 and Zac Efron is 25. Who are we to discriminate?
This story was first published in Ladyish.