Member-only story
The Dating App I Really Need
I’ve Had it With Het Guys. What I Really Need is a Gay Best Friend.
Aunt Meg always had a loving man in her life. When my Uncle Benny died, she was soon re-married. When that husband eventually passed on, another man turned up to enjoy her company. It was easy to see why. She was engaging, wise and sympathetic, and always great fun to talk with.
And she was always upbeat. In her 80s and (temporarily) single, she had to move into an assisted living facility, but her take on it was anything but glum.
“I love this place!” she told me. “I’ve made lots of new friends. There‘s a dining room so I don‘t have to cook. I even have a new boyfriend — and he‘s gay!”
“Your boyfriend is gay?”
When you hit your 80s, she said, all that ‘sex stuff’ isn’t as important as it used to be. “We watch PBS and go for walks and have great conversations. And he can still drive, so we go to the symphony together!”
I had to admit that sounded pretty good.
Especially when, four years ago, I learned that my own boyfriend, a man I’d loved and trusted for twenty years, had a secret girlfriend on the side for the last ten.
Which means? That I was single again in my sixties. So I started to think about online…
