Whats age got to do with it?

WHAT'S THE RIGHT AGE?

I was talking to a friend of mine today and we were talking about a certain family who owns and is developing a lot of land north of our city. When I say a lot I mean in the millions of dollars.

In short our conversation turned to the fact that this family not only is prominent, but that there are 4 sons and they all are Dr's in the family. In jest, we both joked around about whether or not any of them were single.

Now before you men read this and think "gold-digger". 1) We were just kidding around and 2) You men do the same thing. The only difference is that there are some women out there who do dig for gold and then men dig for silicon. (and I am not talking about the high tech version either). So in all fairness both sides (men and women) have some bad apples out there, who make us all look shallow.

Back to my story. So here we are joking about the brothers and the plausibility of them being single. To which my friend add's, "OH there way to old for you anyway" and I had to pause and think. I guess the dead silence on my end triggered the same thought with her too. Because at the same time we both laughed and said "well heck what's too old?"

I mean if you had to write a personal ad to attract your Mr. or Miss. right. Would age really play a factor. I mean what if you put an age range and that someone special was 5 years older or 5 years younger? What if there was a 10 year difference? 15 year difference? Would that really be a deal breaker.

Why does the older guy dating a younger girl become labeled as a lucky old fart, yet an older women dating a younger guy is called a 'cradle-robber'? I mean what is this age thing anyway and why do we place such value on it when it comes to dating?

Is it the age or the person that matters. After all in this age of cosmetic alterations and healthy lifestyles aren't we all looking younger and younger for our age anyway?

Now of course there is that occasional. 'No way' relationship. You know the ones I am talking about. The guy in his 60's with a girl in her 20s. He looks like he could use a quick puff off an oxygen bottle and she looks like she just stepped out of FHM magazine. But hey, its mutually beneficial right? I mean they are both getting a need met. Hers is financial stability and his is having a need to keep that Viagra prescription going. Maybe a strong heart and libido keeps you out of the old folks home. We all hear them say it "age is all in your mind". If that's the case, I want to have the mind I have now, in the body I had in my early 20's. OH and I'll take the face too. No need to keep these laugh lines, they remind me of the life lines of a tree. The older I get the more lines I see.

So do I care about the age thing and what people would say?
I would love to say my answer is no, but honestly. I don't really want to find myself dating someone who's daughter is my age. When it comes down to it I want to date a tree that has close to the same amount of life rings as I do. With that said it will be my luck that I will meet and fall in love with the next star of the Viva Viagra commercials.

So whats in an age anyway? It all depends on how you count it.