"Benjamin, I am twice your age." - Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson
I'm fifty. While I don't feel old per se, I am well aware of my laugh lines, my inability to read anything closer than arms' length without drugstore readers, and certain areas of my body that are beginning to droop in a discomforting way. I am never more conscious of these outward signs of aging than when garnering the attention of much younger men, which seems to happen with frightening frequency lately.
Of course, when I was busy being married and raising my children I didn't go out much alone or with girlfriends, but I go out with some regularity these days. I expect some attention from men my age. I enjoy it. We find common ground for conversation: pop culture, music, did you drink Mogen David in college too, where were you when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon... things like that. We laugh about the glory days, enjoy slightly better vintages than Mogen David and we go home at a somewhat reasonable hour because we probably have to work the next day.
Lately, it's not so much the men my age that sit down next to me at the bar. Lately, the eyes that meet mine are a entire generation away from needing reading glasses. I'm not sure what to make of this phenomenon. I wonder if it's a widespread trend.
The other night my girlfriend and I were out in Chicago having a glass of wine in a nice bar next to Orchestra Hall before attending a concert. Two lovely gentlemen from Los Angeles sat down next to us and started up a conversation that, to me, would not have been out of the ordinary except that they were in their mid to late twenties and my friend and I have over a hundred years of living between us.
We enjoyed their enthusiasm - they were, in fact, absolutely gorgeous creatures - and as we got up to leave for the concert, they asked what time we would return. The one with the neatly trimmed beard and long eyelashes asked for my phone number. He suggested I join him at his hotel. Was I flattered? ENTIRELY. Did I go? No. Should I have?
It would have made a good story. Maybe next time.
