A Match Made in Heaven?

After spending four years on a hiatus from almost all contacts, I decided that getting involved again was a good idea. What I didn't realize was how different it was for someone my age. My work afforded few opportunities to meet people and I was not a joiner of a lot of groups. Therefore, at the suggestion of friends, I joined several social networking sites, such as Facebook and Myspace. These helped me understand the vernacular and how to speak in a whole new language. Graduating from these, I discovered eHarmony, Match.com, etc. On these sites, which were more focused on dating than friendship, I found that the range of men that women were looking for was near their own age. On the other hand, men's ranges were much wider, mostly on the younger age range. This was disconcerting. Was I competing with 30-somethings?

To some degree, yes. But also, I found that what I wrote made a big difference. The less serious my profile became, the more noticed it was. Now, I am communicating with a number of men, but I have really only found two out of about 30 with whom I have emailed, talked with or gone out with, with whom I really felt a connection. I don't know how this fits with the norm, but it was not a surprise to me.

What did surprise me, was what attracted me to them. The twinkle in an eye, genuine laughter, a playful approach to life, not taking themselves seriously, intelligent discussions about things they valued--all these were the factors that I was looking for. In fact, it has gotten where I can tell very quickly if there will be that chemistry. We will see where it takes me. For now, I am still uncertain about where to go from here. Maybe that is a good thing after all.