Well, here's the thing... I'm a single mum although my ex is very supportive. I work flexitime - not normal office hours. Most of my friends are married and the few single ones are dating. Since I got divorced, I generally don't get invited out to their homes anymore. It appears that's what happens when you don't have a partner. I have met a few people through my sons' soccer club, but they are once again mostly married. I do go out with friends sometimes but usually it is out to dinner, movies or a show, and there're very few single men doing the same thing to meet! I tried speed dating (once) and didn't like it. I've met a few guys through dating sites, and although none have panned out long-term, I'm still in touch with a couple. I don't know what the alternative is, really. Even if I don't meet the love of my life, I enjoy this site because it's fun to be in contact with different people from all over the world... Btw good luck to you and Trulee!
Yes it was a biggie for me too! Little did I know back then!!! I do think ageing is easier for men, but hey, what do I know - I'm not one! I have a soft spot for Southern writers... Pat Conroy and William Wharton are two of my favourites.
I've only just read through all the posts and quite honestly, think I'd rather just stay the heck away from here. Clearly I am not up to speed on all the innuendoes, but frankly, I am amazed that adults behave like this. Not very nice. I think I'll rather stick to the men's threads
Hiya Damian, well you shouldn't have too much of a problem! You're a nice looking guy and you have rather a large age range, (18-99) so that should keep the sluice gates open.... Good luck!
Hi Sionna. Yes, no idea what is happening, but sarcasm seems to be the order of the day! Wow, Bloemfontein - of all places to stay! Hope you visited a few other places while you were here? Yes I also loved "A Dry White Season" by Andre Brink. Very sad. Do you mean larnie, as in posh? I love Johnny Clegg as well, especially his early music. Also loved Invictus - found it quite moving! Methinks our wonderful old icon (Mandela) needs to have a wee chat in John Smit's ear (the current Springbok rugby captain), because they are playing appallingly right now! Must be great teaching English to French students... A tout a l'heure
Hey North... thanks for that! I'm not a huge country fan generally, but that is one hot ole cowboy and I liked the words!!! I wonder if 50 feels different for a woman because we are kind of looking at the end of an era in a way... I mean it isn't just the menopause, it is the men-have-paused!!! Ah well.....
Hmmmmm, well I think I'm going to start counting backwards from now on when it comes to birthdays!!! You're lucky your employer buys you a cake - we have a horrible tradition of having to buy our OWN birthday cake for everyone in the bloody office!!!! I think it's nice to celebrate our rite of passage...... How far away is real quick?????
I agree. I had a 30+ year friendship which unravelled because I unknowingly, unintentionally hurt my friend while we were both going through separation/divorces. She lives in Canada and I'm here, and she tried to reach me but I wasn't there for her. She sent me an email full of accusations and vitriol, which I responded to. I asked for her forgiveness, tried phoning to speak to her but she refused. She blocked me from her email, facebook etc. and when I tried phoning, she put the phone down. After months of this I gave up... It's been over 2 years now, and I'm sad, but I have to respect her decision and let her go. I agree with that saying about how some people come into your life for a reason, a season, or for a lifetime.
I'm turning 50 in 10 days time and feel really miserable about it! When I was young, 50 seemed so OLD! I still feel young, but now at 50 I am definitely middle aged..... Eeeeeeek. I think it is more about having certain expectations about what my life would be like by 50 which have not happened.....
I remember 30 being a huge milestone in my life, I even wrote a funny poem about the joys of ageing; but 40 felt good. I'm going to have to think up a really good poem for the big 50!!!!
Do you feel the same about milestone birthdays??? Which have been your biggies?
Shame, and girls think all the embarrassing stuff is reserved for them! I love enlightening them!!! Re: the original post - well, I guess it depends on the context of his comment, although even if he meant it in an artistic sense, it was rather inappropriate because it could have been so easily misconstrued, and was....
No, one of the great things about getting older is that it isn't the be all and end all.... Generally I wait for the first contact though (a bit old fashioned that way)!!!
Homeopathic drops - Bach flower remedy? Don't you get it there? It's for when you're feeling anxious!!! Put a few drops on the tongue when you're feeling anxious and it calms you down... It's safe to give to kids too....
We don't have basements here!!! What are they for anyway??? Seems mostly for hiding stuff you don't want other people to find like dead bodies and stuff?? Eeeeeeeeeeek
Hmmmm, now that you mention it.... We do have a bit of a problem with damp at the moment..... but don't worry, I would definitely find a use for the tools not kept in your toolbox..... when you've finished the job.....
I do too! Each situation is different, and it happens both ways. When I did Intake at a counselling centre, I often had men sobbing on the phone because of things their partners had done... Men feel too - they just aren't all that good about sharing their feelings, especially the ones that make them feel vulnerable. Here's to all you wonderful guys who have picked up the pieces and taken responsibility for your children......
psssssst Good luck with your procedure joyannie!!! I'm also very nervous about having an anaesthetic so understand your concerns, but just relax and calm yourself with deep breaths and nice thoughts. Hmmmm Would Rescue Remedy interfere with the anaesthetic?!!
Yes I am feeling very deprived at the moment!!! It is really difficult to meet suitable men as you get older.... Toyboys galore though - whew... Maybe I need to take one up???
That's a very emotive poem.... thanks for sharing it!
I love Shakespeare's sonnets. Here are a couple of my favourites:
XVIII Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May And summer's lease hath all too short a date Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines And often is his gold complexion dimmed And every fair from fair sometime declines By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade When in eternal lines to time thou growest So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see So long lives this, and this gives life to thee
XCIV They that have power to hurt and will do none That do not do the thing they most do show Who, moving others, are themselves as stone Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow They rightly do inherit Heaven's graces And husband nature's riches from expense They are the lords and owners of their faces Others but stewards of their excellence The summer's flower is to the summer sweet Though to itself it only live and die But if that flower with base infection meet The basest weed outbraves his dignity For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds
XXIX When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries And look upon myself, and curse my fate Wishing me like to one more rich in hope Featured like him, like him with friends possessed Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising Haply I think on thee, and then my state (Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings
CXVI Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediuments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds Or bends with the remover to remove: Oh no, it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests, and is never shaken It is the star to every wandering bark Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come Love alterns not with his brief hours and weeks But bears it out even to the edge of doom If this be error, and upon me proved I never writ, nor no man ever loved
RE: FOR THOSE SEARCHING FOR LOVE......
Well, here's the thing... I'm a single mum although my ex is very supportive. I work flexitime - not normal office hours. Most of my friends are married and the few single ones are dating. Since I got divorced, I generally don't get invited out to their homes anymore. It appears that's what happens when you don't have a partner. I have met a few people through my sons' soccer club, but they are once again mostly married. I do go out with friends sometimes but usually it is out to dinner, movies or a show, and there're very few single men doing the same thing to meet! I tried speed dating (once) and didn't like it. I've met a few guys through dating sites, and although none have panned out long-term, I'm still in touch with a couple. I don't know what the alternative is, really. Even if I don't meet the love of my life, I enjoy this site because it's fun to be in contact with different people from all over the world...Btw good luck to you and Trulee!