Don’t you miss the HBO hit series “Sex in the City”? I loved that show…girls coming to New York in search of the two Ls: Labels and Love. The day the movie came out, we closed our office and all went to the movies. After the movie was over, we celebrated each other with Margaritas, Texas’ answer to the Cosmopolitan.
In my office, comprised of women representing over five generations, each one of us is either looking for love, is in love, has been in love, has been broken in love, or has just given up on love.
So what does Love in your Prime look like, and how do you find it?
Like Diane Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give when she takes Jack Nicholson blood pressure before having sex? Or the sister ‘s speech, “as women get older, they become more accomplished, therefore more interesting, and therefore an even greater threat to men. That’s why older men date younger women and the much more interesting women, like my sister, sit home night after night.”
Or, when you go to your gynecologist and she wants to know if you have any discomfort during sex and instead of saying, “How the hell would I know?!” you just say no.
Or all the ads on TV for creams and potions and warnings about erections that might last more than 4 hours…. Well, just kill me.
Marketers are taking advantage of the baby boomers insatiable appetite to stay young looking, remain active, and have the disposable income to pay for it.
Last month, the publishers of this magazine asked if I would write a continuing column on finding love in your prime. The conversation started with, “Have you ever dated on-line?” I embarrassingly admitted that I had tried it right after my divorce some 14 years ago and did not have a successful time at it…and proceeded to regale them with some of my more hysterical encounters. More about those later…
So, I have agreed to get more proactive about this phenomenon of dating and finding love in your prime.
Finding Love in Your Prime
Let me first say I have a very interesting and full life, so, I was not even sure I wanted to put myself out there and shovel through the pile to see if I could find a pony. I own my own public relations business; have two grown daughters who are in the business with me; terrific clients, with the majority of them being men; serve on numerous boards and civic organizations; two granddaughters; and, most importantly, great girlfriends. So why put myself through this exercise which seems like finding a needle in a haystack? I’m at that point in life where I agree with Renee Russo in the Thomas Crowne Affair when she said, “Men make Women Messy”.
Now, there is nothing like a good, steamy romance to get your juices flowing, but have you ever noticed that no matter how old you are you find yourself turning into a geisha or a courtesan? We just can’t help ourselves…there is this primitive extinct that makes women want to serve, make everyone happy and it is almost impossible for us to say NO and mean it.
I have a single male friend that I have had a longtime friendship with and even have been a family counselor to his teenage daughter. Early after my divorce, we were out to dinner and I informed him that I had solved the mystery of finding a man. I went on to tell him that my vast research has led me to believe that men are attracted to two kinds of women, needy and psychopathic. He was still chewing his steak when he told me to go psychopathic because I would never pull off needy. So, you get the picture: I am apparently somewhat intimidating. I am sure many of you are just like Diane Keaton–in your prime, very accomplished, and, therefore, very interesting.
So how are we going to find a suitable man to date? I have no idea, but I plan to find out. I hope that you will come with me on this journey. I can’t promise you success but I know we can have a good laugh and, just like the HBO hit series Sex and the City, most of the fun will be talking about finding love. It’s all about the journey, so, come on along…
Last thought: be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground in the morning, the devil says, “Oh crap! She’s up.”
