age ain't nothin but a number.... is it?

this weekend, my low-key saturday night turned into lively conversation when a few unexpected visitors dropped by. after a considerably mild conversation about the recent happenings in the world of politics, talk turned to my friend's recent date. a first date. with a 20-year-old. (he's 27.)

reactions were mixed. the age gap is too large (one friend); it's fine (me, speaking from the experience of dating older men); "if you can get it, hit it!" (my best friend... though i think at this point the margaritas were speaking for her.)

one friend brought up the double standard of dating outside your age range; while it's seemingly fine for men, it's considered distasteful and borderline humorous for women to do the same thing. i mean, think about the nicknames that are affixed to the genders; men get nicknames like "playboy," and women are stuck with the often joked about infamous "cougar" nickname. (though, according to my friend, i'm still a "puma"... the cougar nickname will not be bestowed on me until i'm at least in my late thirties.)

fast forward to sunday night. after shopping for arts & crafts supplies (no, that is not a typo), jackie and i met up with my cousin miranda and her friend dan for a casual happy hour. i'd met dan before, when miranda brought him along to my birthday party, and though i thought he was incredibly gorgeous then (tall, dark and handsome= my type), i didn't really get to talk to him until last night. our conversation bordered on the flirtatious, until he revealed his age.

23. NEWLY 23. (confirm with jackie; i rather inappropriately balked at this.)

now, i've always been the girl to date older men; younger men (and men that graduated high school the same year as my baby sister nonetheless) have always seemed a little too high-maintenance for me, and i've always laughed off the idea of getting involved with one of them.

but really. he's gorgeous. and funny. laid-back, easy to be around, loves football and is a total obama supporter. so what if he's 23.... right?

whether or not this puma is going to pounce remains to be seen, but the bear hug and kiss on the cheek from dan at the end of the night has spilled over into lots of smiles today.