age is just a number?

so i met up with the earlybird for drinks and appetizers last night. it was an interesting, mostly positive experience. i think it helped me learn something important. in recent years, i've dated a few men who were anywhere from 5 to 12 years older than me. indeed, my first real boyfriend was 7 years older than me. i think i had my act together pretty early on, and have tended to prefer older guys more than younger guys. the fellow from last night is 10 years older than me and i think part of what drew me to him was a hope that he might be pretty settled in his life in terms of career, home, friend group, etc. i realized pretty early on that was not the case, as he's moved up and down California quite a bit, switching from industry work to education work to museum work to grad school to education again. so although he was relatively handsome and intelligent, he seemed very uncertain as to his future personally or professionally. having just put myself through 6 years of grad school and purchased my own (albeit small) home, the idea of a 42 year-old drifter is just not appealing to me. i think it was pretty clear to both of us by the end of our date that there wasn't great chemistry there, but given that San Diego is small (and North Park is even smaller) and we both work in the education field, I imagine our paths will cross again and that is definitely OK. he also commented that while he's e-mailed or chatted on the phone with various people he'd met online, that few have been as "bold" as me to suggest meeting in person. is that where things are at, that proposing to meet another human being in person is now considered "bold?" if so, i find that a bit scary.

one funny thing that happened is that a certain (very tall, very cute - and younger than me) alum from my undergrad institution who promised to send me a card on valentine's day showed up at the very establishment where my date was taking place. i excused myself for a moment to say hello to him, and he apologized for not getting in touch, claiming that he had just found the card with my info on it which he had misplaced. typically i'd be skeptical of such a story, but he sent me (and my friend whose info I had also given him, not sure which of us he had his eye on) a sweet e-mail begging forgiveness. in my somewhat beer-hazed state later that night i sent him a reply with an invitation to meet up...we shall see what he says. i guess there is such a thing as a belated valentine's day card after all.