Tuesday, June 26, 2007

mind the (age) gap


so here’s my question. what is the perfect age gap? let’s pretend (i’m maybe not really pretending) that i’m kind-of sort-of crushing on a 22-year old. um…yeah…22 year old. remember my comment to jefe about how luke skywalker isn’t eligible because he isn’t established? yeah, the youngen (as i call him) hasn’t even declared an undergraduate major yet. and he doesn’t have a car…hmm…anyway, we went out saturday afternoon – our “going out” usually consists of playing frisbee and eating at sonic because he’s a poor college kid but wants to be a gentleman so won’t let me treat.

then saturday night, i went out with the president of this company – i didn’t dare ask how old he was, and he clearly wasn’t TOO old, but based on the fact that he’s started and successfully sold 3 companies so far, owns an amazing house and a dog that’s bigger than i am (not relevant, but still true), i’m guessing he was late 30s (don’t quote me though – i have a horrible sense of age). he did know how to wine and dine me though. very different than the youngen.

i’ve never dated someone younger than me before – and the youngen is even younger than my baby sister…we have fun though, even though i feel like i’m robbing the cradle a bit. on the other hand, mr. president is a lot of fun, but is maybe too established for me. there’s something to be said about struggling through financial life a little bit together and living on cardboard couches for awhile right? so i wanted to ask all of you dating-advice pros – what’s your perfect age gap? do you date your exact age or is there a variance of a few (a lot?) years?

here are the pros and cons i came up with for both:

younger guy/older girl pros –
- girls live longer than guys so we’ll die around the same time
- girls reach their sexual peak in life later than guys do, so maybe we’ll hit it at the same time. bow chica bow wow

younger guy/older girl cons –
- i don’t want to pay for my honey’s schooling…is that selfish?
- guys age slower than girls so i’ll look really old compared to him

older guy/younger girl pros –
- he’s done with school
- there's something to be said about a guy who can take care of you

older guy/younger girl cons –
- refer to the opposite of the “younger guy/older girl pros” list

18 comments:

Colleen said...

oh ck this post is brilliant. and those two look like they're having a blast on the couch.

i had a little run in with some younger guys in february-ish. i sometimes felt like we couldn't have any normal exchange of dialogue unless over text or email. (the internet was just surfacing when i graduated high school-can you blame me if i want to talk face to face)

i think i am more interested in guys 2 years younger, or 2 years older. or 50 years older...but those guys are never available.

El Jefe said...

OOOOOOOOOH, these stereo types don't always apply do they? I can barley take care of myself and I am older than all ya'll too, and I'm still in school. The fun of being single is you can change your degree when you get close enough to finishing, I have enough credits to have three BA's. Which may show you I have a probelm with commitment. I don't know, who do you like better and why? Age ain't nothing but a number. My current girlfriend (we have an understanding that we speak tentatively about our relationship, just in case) is just a month older than my youngest sister. I figure that as long as they are around the age of your youngest sybling (given that your youngest sybling is of legal age of course) I think you're good, because you can still relate.

I have to be honest have my hopes on the young guy, he sounds cool, not as pretentious. However, it's not my life...GO YOUNG GUY!

Chelsea said...

yeah, the youngen's leading the race for sure. and don't worry jefe - not all stereotypes are true.

i agree with you about the normal communication and such though, colls. i'm of the mindset that age doesn't matter as much as stage of life - i can relate more to a working guy than i can with a student who barely got out of the dorms...what a trick

El Jefe said...

CK, after seeing your linkup Profile I realized that 22 is only 3 years younger than you...This is a wildly inappropriate stunt you pulled, I think baby boy desereves love because you really aren't that much older than him.

I would say Mr. Over 30 is further from you then Mr. 22 is on the time life. Money isn't everything, well, it sorta is.

Chelsea said...

ha ha! yeah - as nat would say, the bag's out. i'm a youngen myself to some.

don't worry jefe - i know you're getting all riled up over this, but the money has nothing to do with it. i swear i'm not a gold-digger. i would maybe even like to marry a stay at home dad so i can keep working and be his sugar momma -

p.s. the youngen's still leading the race. i kicked his trash at bowling AND he told me he likes my hair, so that's endearing

nathaniel said...

we want PRE-NUP! we want PRE-NUP!

becky said...

seriously. pre-nup is the only way to go.

El Jefe said...

I think it's because the older guy sounds like he's a pretentious predator of young women...Watch your pants.

Chelsea said...

i'm so touched you're looking out for me so much jefe! per your request, i will watch my pants

natali said...

prenup shemup. tell mr. ceo if he wants you he best be disclosing his swiss bank account.

Chelsea said...

you'd be proud jefe - the youngen won this weekend. i chose him for my saturday date and it was a smart choice, he didn't even try to do anything with my pants

n said...

oh the little boys. so much fun.

El Jefe said...

Congratulations, but hopefully at some point he will try to do something with yoru pants.

Chelsea said...

yes i sure hope so. otherwise this just isn't going to work.

also, it turns out the boss is 36 - younger than i thought, so there's that

El Jefe said...

Oh 36 isn't that old, very accomplished for 36. What's his problem.

Colleen said...

so ck what's the update with your cradle robbing...

natali said...

i dont think it can be considered cradle robbing if you went to high school together.

Chelsea said...

update - i'm practicing natty's baseball theory and still dating them both...keep a couple on base, right?

the boss did make me a mean dinner the other night though. on the other hand, the youngen's just so cute! we're going to red rocks to watch a movie tomorrow night. i chose a date with him over the boss again...that's for sure a sign.

and you're right nat - the age difference isn't that huge, but we figured out that i graduated college the same year he graduated high school and that's wierd.

on the other hand, my sister reminded me that the boss was legally an adult before i was even wearing training bras...so that's disturbing...