57 going on 17

There I was, 56 going on 16. Hopelessly, helplessly in love. Positively giddy. I didn't think it would happen when I lost my beloved to cancer. Thought I was destined to be alone for the remainder of my life. Then "he" came into my life. Handsome, loving, kind, and good, everything I could have hoped for! Then it ended. And there I was. A 56 year old widow who had married her high school sweetheart, doing what most girls do at 16 - dealing with a breakup for the first time.

And I did what most 16 year olds do, immediately starting dating again. Now, because of the nature of my meeting with "him" we didn't do traditional dating. And because I was only 14 when my sweet husband and I became a couple, and we met at church where, until I turned 16 and was allowed to date, all our dates took place in group settings at teen activities, we didn't date in the traditional sense either. By the time we "dated", we had been a couple for nearly 2 years. So, at nearly 57 years old, I ventured out into the dating world for the first time. Let me tell you, it's scary out there!

I am put in mind of "Sleepless in Seattle" where Tom Hanks is discussing, after several years of marriage, what to expect in the dating world. A friend gives him all kinds of, ahem, advice and tells him how different things are, that women's expectations have changed and that he will have lots of tiramisu. Poor guy doesn't realize tiramisu is food and is concerned that some woman will ask him to "do it to her and I won't know what it is!" Yeah, it's kind of like that! Except it has been my discovery that men, even in their 50's and 60's are still pretty much looking for "tiramisu" and I'm still unwilling to give it without a ring on my finger and a license in my safety deposit box! Other than that, it's a whole new world!

For example, where does a 57 year old woman go to meet men? I'm not interested in bars. The singles groups at churches consist of primarily 30 somethings and under (I've already raised my children, thank you very much!) or divorced or widowed women church hopping looking for that one single Christian man in Amarillo! LOL Dating sites? How does one tell the good guys from the bad guys? And, really, I don't want to date a New Yorker!

I did meet an eligible bachelor the other day. I was coming out of a local women's shelter where I volunteer and a man talking to two other women asked if I was single. Seems he's a millionaire looking for a good woman. At a women's shelter. Been married twice he said. Didn't choose very well the first two times he said. Yeah, snatched him right up! ;-)

So, here I am, 57 going on 17 (see how this process ages a person???), trying to heal from a twice broken heart and find happiness once again. Someone said to me recently, "It's a journey!" It's a journey alright!