Things I forgot to remember

Ok, I usually don't have more than one or two posts per day (if any at all), but while I was waiting to go home earlier, I thought of a few things that I hadn't even written in my journal yet, because I kept forgetting to do so.

A few months ago, we had some friends over for Sunday dinner, plus, I think, the missionaries. Dad had invited one of his friends from the temple, and we had either Gourmet, Indonesian Chicken, home-made pizza, or one of our other favorite Sunday meals.

After dinner, when everyone had gone home, I was laying in bed trying to sleep, when my dad knocks on the door of my room. I told him to come in, and he asked me what I thought about his friend from the temple.

I pretty much shrugged and said he was quiet.

Then, Dad gets into this thing about how his friend from church was looking for someone to date, and I'm thinking to myself, Since when does Dad set us up?!?

I asked him, wasn't his friend a little old for me? Dad said he was in his thirties. I'm only 23, so I told him that his friend's a little old for me.

It's not that I object to people dating other people with such large age differences, it's just not for me. Kimba's boyfriend, Scott, is 35, and they've been dating for almost 2 years now. She seems happy enough with him, so it's all good--but I wouldn't want to date someone Scott's age, and I'm a year older than Kimba is!

Why wouldn't I want to date someone that much older than I am? Well, it's something like this.

The current life expectancy of a reasonably healthy man is about two years less than that of a woman with the same basic amount of vigor, right?

I've always been taught that dating is a preparation for marriage, so I try to only date guys who I'd be interested in marrying (unless it's understood that the date is strictly between friends). Now, if I date, and end up marrying, a guy who is so much older than I am, the likelihood goes up that I'd be a widow before I was fifty. There's no way I want to spend that many of my older years alone. That's what the younger years are for--finding someone to spend the rest of your life with.

Right now (and since I started dating), I've made it a personal policy not to date anyone more than five years younger or older than I am for that very reason. In ten years or so, I might change that to no one more than ten years younger (because then, I won't be accused of robbing the cradle if I date a younger guy), and no one more than five years older. But for now, I'm sticking to my "five years on either side" rule.

But I still can't believe Dad set me up. Of all the people to set me up with anyone, Dad would not have been my guess of who would try first.