Dating

Dating.

What a weird thing.

When you get married, you usually stop dating. Then, when you get divorced, you've been away from that world for so long, you no longer know the rules.

And, depending on the length of time you were married, where you live now, and how old you are, the rules are totally different.

For example, when I was married, dating Apps didn't exist. In fact, Internet dating didn't even exist. Yeah. I'm that old.

This is where I find commonalities with people older than me. Here in the Bay Area people wait until late 20s, early 30s to get married, if they ever do. I got married when I was 23. And divorced at 36. So the only people I know who've been married 12 years, like I was, are people 50+. And those are the same people who have never used a dating website or app.

It's like going forward in time. Now, I don't know what to think! And, I'm in an urban area. There are so. many. people. here. You can date the whole Bay and never overlap once. And, most people seem to be open to sleeping with the entire Bay area and never overlapping once. Which is gross. One guy told me he slept with over 100 women. Yeah. That's not something to brag about. There's all this talk of testing and birth control and protection that I haven't even thought of in years. But, it's important!

There's groups of people who are polyamorous, bi-curious, heteroflexible, and so many other terms I barely understand. There's every type of debauchery around: makeout parties, BDSM clubs, seedy sex clubs, apps where people pay you to go on dates, etc. I mean, wow. You can really REALLY explore here. Dating, for me, if you can even call it that, was watching movies on your boyfriend's couch.

It's a weird world. And a different one than 15 years ago. And a confusing one. But it's really fascinating, too. Good thing I'm older and wise enough to differentiate what I want. But, dang if I'm not a weirdo for my age (all the other 30-somethings are professionals at dating)!