I saw his body and my desire for him was rampant

Cathy is 73, retired and lives outside of Toronto. She says, “I’ve taken good care of myself and have maintained the same weight ever since I was in high school, except for being pregnant three times.” Cathy says, “I wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without looking my best. I love clothes and wear them well. I’ve often joked that on my grave, it will say ‘She liked to match.’” Cathy is “bubbly, chatty, positive, fun, warm and kind” and enjoys “travel, dinner parties and house parties, going out for drinks and dinner, concerts, theatre, movies, hiking and reading.” She has been single for several months after the end of a long marriage.

Despite having the best girlfriends around, I enjoy doing things with a man. Physical attraction is important to me. So is intelligence and having some — but not all — interests in common. I don’t like to be joined at the hip with anyone. I’m not interested in living with someone again or remarrying, and I’m reasonably certain that won’t change. I still want companionship.

My last date was in the ’70s.

When I got divorced a few months ago, I went on a dating site for the first time with great trepidation. I chose an expensive site so people who were less serious would naturally be filtered out. I was blunt about what I was looking for. The site told me I was being too narrow in my parameters but, hey, I had lots of responses anyway.

Alan’s profile interested me because he was active and fit and loved the outdoors. I also thought he looked pretty good in his photo. We chatted via text for a while and then spoke on the phone. Due to COVID-19, we decided to meet outdoors at a park. In person, I was hugely attracted to him. He turned out to be slim, muscular and tall. He was also several years younger than me.

It started to rain, but we stayed. There was palpable chemistry between us and we naturally gravitated toward each other on the park bench. I found his soft-spoken manner very attractive and alluring. It also made for a nice contrast to my personality, which is more bold and out there. We only stayed for about half an hour, because it started to pour, but I

knew there was something special between us and that I wanted to see him again.

After that, Alan invited me to spend a day with him at his cottage, several hours away from Toronto. He said he would have to do some chores while we were there, but that it was a beautiful place. I have never been keen to do physical labour or to be in the woods, so imagine my surprise and amazement when I offered not only to visit but to help Alan for the day

as our second date.

So picture this: the person who makes sure her underwear matches her bra every day, driving deep into the woods, and then lugging around bags of dirt, getting absolutely filthy, sweating, swatting away bugs and spreading grass seed. I even rode around on a four-wheeler. Even though I felt absurd in the situation, I had to admit that I was actually having fun due to the conversation and time spent with Alan.

After several hours of chores, we got into our bathing suits and took a dip in the lake. I saw his body and, after that, my desire for him was rather rampant. My grandchildren would be shocked and horrified!

After all that work, Alan made me a delicious dinner, during which we talked and laughed for hours. My makeup was all gone, thanks to the swim in the lake, and my hair was a tangled mess, but I somehow didn’t care. It was totally unlike me and I wondered what alien life form had inhabited my body. Alan told me I still looked beautiful and, funnily enough, I believed he was being sincere.

Before I had to leave to get back to the city that night, we had an intense kissing session. Alan is amazing at kissing, something I had never experienced with a man before. We are both adults and I knew we were very attracted to each other, so I didn’t see any reason for the cumulation of our physical attraction to be put on hold for too long!

Cathy rates her date (out of 10): 10