I became me when I was about 25. I mean that in the sense that my personality, idea of what was morally right and wrong and my sense of humour and wonder about the world around me settled and has stayed largely the same since then. That’s a long time to not see any major changes in a person, so I figure that 25 is about the cut-off age where you become a “seasoned adult”, whatever that means. Which, in a round-about sort of way brings me to internet dating. Needless to say, as someone in their mid-to-late 30s, I feel that looking for a girlfriend with an age of more than a decade below me is probably a Bad Idea(TM).
Still, this hasn’t stopped me chatting to a 24 year old, a 27 year old and a 26 year old. It is often said that I look ten years younger than my actual age, but my mind is clearly ten years older than any of these wonderful young ladies. Would it work? What is the age differential beyond which a long-term relationship becomes impossible? Until now, the biggest age differential I’ve experienced was a brief fling in the late 90s with someone who was 18. It would be unreasonable of me to say that wasn’t fun, because it was; but long-term? Nahhh – we were on completely different planets unless we were in bed, in which case, everything was most splendid, thanks.
For some reason, 28 to 18 seems like a much larger age difference than, say 38 to 26. Which is odd, because it isn’t. Indeed, it’s less. But the emotional and personality changes I went through seemed to magnify that 18 to 25 period of my life where, in hindsight, my moral line of goodness was moving up and down like a yo-yo. So maybe 26, 27 or 28 isn’t too young for me?
Yet again, I worry too much when I should be just seeing what cards fate deals me. I’m looking for a royal flush, but I’ll settle for a good pair (sorry… :-))
