"Magic"

A certain man I'm acquainted with, whom I'll call Henry, (can you tell I'm a bit hypersensitive about talking about people behind their backs in my blog?), is in his mid-70's and dating. I think he's been out with 5 or 6 women since he started using Match.com. The first was a couple years younger than him, but she found him lacking for whatever reason. All the others, from what I can tell, have been much younger.

Henry introduced me to one, and told me later that she's 56. He wanted to know if that was "too young for him." I said, "You do the math. You could be her father." He said he didn't think it'd go anywhere, anyway, as she was unemployed (we are discriminated against in every walk of life!) and therefore might want him to take care of her. I said, "Well, we certainly know that's not going to happen!" He laughed, not seeing it for the dig it was meant to be.

Another of the women is foreign born, but has lived here for many years. She still "has an accent" so that's a point against her in his eyes. Seriously. Being at least bilingual, (who knows how many languages she speaks?) isn't seen as a sign of intelligence or something to be admired. Nope. She has an accent.

One woman wore a "wild, out there" ensemble that was only described as a long skirt, with RED socks and sandals. I asked if she was topless, and he said no, she wore a blouse, so I guess it was either the socks with a skirt, or the socks with sandals, or the fact that the socks were RED that made it wild and out there.

I'm pretty sure that one of the women is a real estate agent or travel agent who wants to meet potential clients under the guise of dating. She's much younger than him, blonde and slim, with no accent. He had no complaint about her.

This is all very depressing. How many men out there are like Henry?  And how many women, after meeting someone like him, will go on a second or third date?  It's happened, and it's a mystery to me.

Am I just a hopeless romantic? I still believe in kismet. I don't want a "companion" to help pay the bills. I'd rather read a book than go out to dinner with some old guy who's looking to hook up after treating me to the blue plate special, while I scope him out to see if he truly prepared for retirement.

I was talking to an ex-neighbor from Florida a week ago and he said that he hopes that when he gets old enough to require being in a facility, that he goes willingly and doesn't put up a fuss. That now, when he's still able to take care of himself, it makes sense. But he fears that when he's dependent on others he'll forget that, and become a belligerent old man, demanding to go home. I told him that he's too good, too nice, and too caring a person for that kind of transformation to occur.

I hope I never end up trolling the Internet for some guy, any guy, because romance has become a distant memory. Or worse, that I'm still a hopeless romantic even though there's no hope to be found. Someone tell me that I'm too good, too nice, and too caring for that to happen to me.