Anonymous wrote:I got divorced at 47. I dated a slew of women, including a 27 year old who was young, hot and tight. But she was also vapid and we had nothing to talk about. And so, while I enjoyed hitting it for a couple of months, I ended up enjoying dating women my own age, plus or minus about 5 years, more. And I ended up marrying one.
That said, the experience of dating someone 20 years younger than me was as valuable as it was briefly fun. I learned a lot about what I wanted in a partner. Youth is beautiful. But it's not necessarily something I wanted to live with on a daily basis.
I can relate from the other side of that age gap. I dated a very attractive, wealthy 48 year old man for a year from ages 23 to 24—we met through mutual friends. As an Ivy League graduate, I think I impressed him with my intelligence and the depth of our conversations, and we complemented each other extremely well. We traveled together across continents, had an amazing time, and he taught me a lot through his perspective and life experience that I still use today. Like you said, it was brief but genuinely valuable, and it helped clarify what I want in a partner. It was easily the best time of my twenties—very much right for that stage of life.