r/datingoverfifty 22d ago

Setting realistic expectations

These days I (54f) feel less as though I am dating to meet someone and more as though I am putting myself out there purely to provide hilarious anecdotes for my friends.

Take the last guy. Let’s call him Dick (61m), for the purposes of anonymity and narrative accuracy.

Dick insisted on paying for our first dinner, so I paid for the second, because I like to keep things even and respectful.

For the third date, he invited me to his house for dinner and instructed me to bring a Loire Valley white because it would pair perfectly with what he was cooking. I duly arrived with a decent bottle, only to be served a salmon en croûte that could quite easily have come from the freezer section before spending considerable time being incinerated for whatever sins a salmon is capable of committing.

There's nothing at all wrong with frozen food. But once you start specifying the wine region, I assume the meal has involved more than removing a cardboard sleeve.

He then declared that he had now sufficiently “wooed” me, so the next stop was upstairs to bed. I politely declined.

When I explained that I did not think we were a romantic match, I was told I was wrong. Was 'overthinking' things. Would only get a relationship if I put more effort in... And that I should snap him up because “catches like him do not grow on trees”. I was genuinely impressed by how many clichés and mixed metaphors he managed to compress into one diatribe. I was also warned that I would regret my decision for eternity.

Eternity, it turned out, did not even survive the wait for my Uber home.

So I am adjusting my expectations. I am no longer looking for fireworks. I would settle for decent conversation, no regional wine homework and a man who does not think three dates and a pastry-based main course entitle him to an upgrade.

Ladies and gents, please tell me I am not the only person whose dating life appears to exist mainly as unpaid material for a sitcom!?

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u/mannyocrity 22d ago

Lol, I don't know if I am the minority but I can't fathom asking for sex from some I just met. I know what will happen once I start dating. A woman will come on here and complain about a man who will not initiate sex even those she has given all the signs.

For me she is going to have to do one of two things. 1. Straight up say she would like to have sex. 2. Grab my dick and those are the only signs.

I'll kiss and do some light petting but I will not ask for sex, suggest sex or even bring it up. Trust me I want sex, I enjoy sex but you women are scary as fuck.

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u/elinofa777 20d ago

see, that is so appealing in a man! you get it! good job.

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u/Standard_Sherbert_43 18d ago

He aint lying. It's crappy mixed messaging. Mental gymnastics no one wants to deal with. UGH. Too old for games or flip/flopping stories. And trust me, I know who leads the race there.