I'm going to take a little time to write to you about age differences as they apply to me at my age or rather at my stage in life.  I am contacted by so many gents who are considerably younger than I and I want to have something that I have put some thought into to share with them that explains my position so this will become a "stock" reply or maybe a journal entry.  Well, I guess it became a Journal entry. 

Age incompatibility isn't an arbitrary numbers game; it's about what I want from life and my partner, what our shared activities might be and where we're going in the future.  So, on with the narrative... 

First of all, I want a LTR.  I'm not looking for a casual or short term or NSA relationship.  So I'm looking for a gent who is also looking for someone for the long haul; who is looking into the future; who is looking for a woman to grow old with.  So the dynamic must be good now as well as 15-20 years from now.  My crystal ball is at the shop so I can't forcast what the future might bring however, in deciding which people to invest my time in and ask to invest their time in me, there should be no obvious impediments. 

I want to retire sometime in the near future, say... the next 12 to 18 months.  When I retire I want to travel; to follow the sun.  I want to load what is precious to me into a motorhome and hit the road always living in what a friend of mine describes as "short pants" weather.  I am of modest financial means and so, if I go on this journey with a partner, he must be financially independant - I can't/won't support him and, in fact, I distrust relationships of greatly unequal financial means.  I don't want an "impoverished" partner... don't want a "rich" one either. 

Most gents under 57 or 58 are not ready, either financially or emotionally, to retire.  Apart from needing the income, they are still building their careers and still taking enjoyment from advancement and betterment on the job scene.  They're not ready to take off and follow the weather. 

Although I am a youthful 65, I am 65 and not interested in or likely capable of taking on vigorous physical activities like rock climbing, racquetball, rollerblading or scuba diving.  Hiking, casual biking, and similar are more my speed.  Most of the men I know who are 55 and younger and who enjoy physical activity, want a partner who can share more intense activities than I want or am able to take on. 

And then we get to the future...  It might be possible for me to keep up with a gent of 45-50 years now.  But in ten years I will be 75 and he will be 55-60 and while 60 can still be considered somewhat youthful, there is no way 75 is.  I do not want to be left alone at that age and I believe that taking up with a man much younger than I am is courting that eventuality.  It is not, in my opinion, better to have loved and lost.  I don't want to spend the rest of my life fighting to "keep up". 

I have jumped into relationships impetuously in the past and inevitability I've paid a big price for that.  My last relationship was with a gent 28 years younger than I.  It lasted 7 years.  One of the conclusions I came to during this time was that being with a younger man made me feel older not younger. 

On top of all this, I want someone who grew up in the same decade, with the same music, with the same current events.  I have a play partner who is within a few months of me in age and it is so comfortable to be with him and not worry about showing a bit of stiffness getting up or to mention Johnny and the Hurricanes and he actually knows who I'm talking about.  He and I both lived through the Cuban Missle Crisis, the Korean War and the Hoola Hoop.

So, in short, I'm reluctant to consider anyone more than 7 or 8 years younger or older than I.  I hope this makes things more clear.