Dating in my 50's: Should I just give up on finding THE ONE?

Let's see  where did I leave off.  Oh yeah, I had mail.

I went into the email section to see what I had.  I don't know about you but I love to get mail, almost doesn't matter what it is, it is so much fun opening mail.  It also makes you feel wanted when you get snail mail or email.  OK, I know I am digressing and I should get to the point.

In the email box was an email from Mr.95%!  I was so excited I almost passed out; he actually wrote back.  But wait, he could be writing to tell me to take a hike, that I am so not his type, that I am too fat, too skinny, too blonde.  Now I had a new dilemma, should I open the email and get disappointed or should I wait a while and savor the moment????  But wait, not only did I have an email from Mr. 95%, but I had two  other emails.  Let's see what shall I call them?  One I will call Mr. SoNotMyType and the other I will call Mr. VeryCute.

I decided to open Mr. SoNotMyType's email first, after all he wrote me so it won't disappoint me would it?  I opened the  email and he said he liked my profile and would like to get to know more about me.  OK, so far so good.... I next went to his profile.  Our match percentage was 84%.  Hmmm, OK why do different?  Well for one he was only 5'6", outside my range of heights I prefer, secondly, he was Asian.  Not to say there is anything wrong with Asians, just in the past they have not been my type. Thirdly, he had little kids (10 and 12).  But he did say he loved wine so he couldn't be all that bad could he?   And after all, my track record with my so-called "type" wasn't so good; maybe I should try to date some men that didn't fit into my typical "type".

I decided to write Mr. SoNotMyType back. I asked him what kind of wine was his favorite and left it at that.

Next I opened Mr.VeryCute's email.  His email said " I rarely search....normally just read emails, etc.  This time I found your profile and got a smile. Let me know if the same happens to  you."  Wow, I was smitten already!  I wrote Mr. VeryCute back and said "Why, thank you for the comment. I like your plaid pajamas".  Yeah, I know sounds crazy but there was a picture of him standing in his kitchen making breakfast in plaid pajama bottoms and a t-shirt.  Very cute indeed.

By this time Mr. SoNotMyType already wrote me back.  I wasn't sure if I should answer, I was  hesitant again so instead of opening that email I bit the bullet and opened Mr. 95%.  Holy Cow he said he liked my profile too! He highlighted that we were a 95% match and asked what my favorite wine was.  We went back and forth for about a half hour trading emails.  Mr. SoNotMyType and Mr.VeryCute were pushed to the back burner.  We decided to meet the following Tuesday at a place known for their wine selection. 

OH MY GOD, I HAVE A DATE. What in the world have I done?  I haven't been on a date in over 10 years.  How in the world will I get ready, what will I wear? Is his picture recent? Is he a dork? What if he is an ax murderer? I don't know anyone here, who will I tell where I am going in case he abducts me and keeps me as his sex slave???? Well, maybe I would not tell anyone, that could be interesting...

The next day, Monday, I went to work and told this woman who I had become friends with. I think she was more excited than I was.  Of course she would come to rescue me if I got abducted she said with excitement!  She gave me her cell phone and I gave her mine. We had a plan that I would call at a certain time if things were going bad.  We discussed what I should wear; she said go home and put jeans on and a sexy top!  

Tuesday I could barely stand it in work, when was this day going to be over so I could go home, change, and head out to meet Mr.95%?  Finally the end of the day came and I went home, changed into jeans and sweater and headed out. All the way there I was thinking "please don't be a dork".  

I got to the bar and he was not there, but that is because I was 15 minutes early, a small problem of mine, I am always early.  I got to the bar and found a seat next to this nice couple.  We struck up a conversation and they asked me why I was here alone. I told them I was meeting a blind date.  Apparently this surprises lots of people because they were excited!  They said they were getting ready to leave, but now they were going to wait to see if this guy was dork or hot!!  We had fun wondering what he would really be like.  

And then he walked in..................................

New Job, New House, New Mate?????

I am back!  Well, I am finally getting settled in my new house and my new job, and I suppose my new life.  My divorce is final and it is time to move on and what a better way than to start dating again.  SAY WHAT??? Yup, dating again, am I crazy?

I never thought that at 54 I would be dating again, let alone be single again.  I thought I had found my prince charming, my soul mate; but life happens and things change.  This blog isn't about blame it is about dating in my 50’s. 

I didn't know where to start, my daughter had suggested OKCupid, she found it easy so I signed up for OK Cupid and it was free! I had tried Match.com before and the free part of it was not easy to use so I wanted to try something different.  To start I had create a name, something catchy that would scream out “Pick me, pick me”!  Wow, it was pretty hard to think of something catchy so I said to myself, “what do I like to do?”, hmmm, “I like to drink wine”.  Shazam, there it was I became WineLover2014.  Now all I had to do was fill out some basics and 6 thousand pages of questions and answers and off I go. Some of the questions are downright scary.  Example:  Would you date someone with herpes?   Huh?????  This was almost as crazy as the questionnaire for unemployment benefits when they asked me what my knife skills were. 

What you do is answer a bunch of questions and then you select the answer that you will accept from a “match”.  Then you rate how important it is to you.  One was question was “does smoking disgust you?” I answered yes, and then selected “yes” for my match, and selected that the answer was mandatory for me, after all I didn't want to kiss an ashtray.   After you spend hours answering the questions you can search men and you will get a score for them.  I decided to look at one match that came up with a very high percentage match, it was around 95%.  I went through his profile and thought yeah, he could be a possibility. His profile was pretty funny, had a very sarcastic tone to it and his favorite movie was “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” which just happens to be my favorite movie.  So I thought this site might not be so bad. 

It got pretty interesting when not more than 5 minutes after finishing my profile I had mail!  I was so excited, someone liked my profile, and someone liked me!  Wahoo, the thought of the possibilities was more exciting that opening the email.    I went to my mailbox and opened up the message with high hopes only to be sorely disappointed, and I mean very disappointed.   The picture attached to the email made me gasp with, well I am not quite sure, but almost disgust.  The guy looked to be about 75 years old and could probably play a good Santa Claus at Christmas time. Are you kidding me?  I don’t think anyone really reads what people are looking for; they just look at the picture and say “hey, I like the picture; I am going to send an email”.  If some of the guys had bothered to read my profile it says I am looking for a specific age range, non-smokers, fit, active, etc, not overweight couch potatoes.  Oh brother, this is going to be an adventure for sure.   

So back to Mr.95%.  I read his profile with interest, it was so sarcastically funny that it made me laugh out loud.  And as an added extra bonus he likes wine!  What more could a girl ask for? I hemmed and hawed over sending him an email, my heart was racing, would it be too forward? Would he think I was a hussy?  Who uses that word anymore? What the heck is a hussy anyhow? Oh my god, I just googled hussy and apparently there are all kinds of movies about hussies -"Backwoods Hussy", "Louisiana Hussy", "The Gorgeous Hussy" (that one must be about me).  The dictionary says a hussy is  an impudent or immoral girl or woman. 

synonyms:

minx, coquette, tease, seductress, Lolita, Jezebel

Ok, I am digressing here down a tangent that I had no desire to go down!!  So I sent Mr. 95% an email, I said I like your profile, it made me laugh, and who would have thought there was someone else out there that had "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" as their favorite movie?  I hesitated before I pressed the dreaded "send" button.  I had second thoughts, this whole idea was stupid.  No one was going to like me, I am a 54 year old twice divorced woman. 

So I had a little pity party for myself then I started to think about all the things I had to offer a man:

• I have integrity
• I am honest
• I am educated
• I am funny
• I am adventurous 
• I am fit (well I try hard) 
• I am financially stable
• I have big boobs (maybe I shouldn't say that - kinda gets back to the hussy thing)

Hmm, not too shabby.  So my confidence started to climb, I was feeling good, someone would like me - then the cat threw up on rug and I came back down to reality! 

My finger hovered over that send button for about 5 minutes. Should I do it?  I decided I needed a glass of wine first, then I would do it. After all that,  I pushed the send button. Damn, can I take it back? Where is the recall button?  What, there isn't one?  Holy Cow I can't believe I sent it, what an idiot I am.  

But wait, there was an alert, I have mail...........

To be continued.