By Lisa Scottoline
You may have heard that AARP started a dating site.
Now we’re talking.
Get my walker.
And my blood pressure meds.
Mommy’s going shopping.
The site is called, “How About We…”
But I’m not sure what they mean by that name.
“How About We…Compare Our Cholesterol?”
Or “How About We…Have a Cup of Decaf?”
Or “How About We…Take a Nice Nap?”
So, I went on the AARP website to cruise for menfolk, er, I mean, to learn more about the organization. The first thing I noticed was that AARP membership begins at age fifty.
Huh?
AARP stands for American Association of Retired Persons, but if you live in America, you can’t retire at fifty. You can’t retire at a hundred and fifty. I’m thinking that my tombstone will read, RETIRED…FINALLY.
In fact, if you’re a man who retired at fifty, I want to meet you. Maybe you’re on “How About We…Retire While We Still Have a Heartbeat?”
In any event, I read through the website, which was full of articles with titles such as, How To Have Sex Without Intercourse.
Fascinating, but I’ve been doing that for quite some time now.
Sex without intercourse is chocolate cake.
I read the article, but I still wasn’t sure what they meant. There were too many euphemisms, presumably because I wasn’t old enough to be told the truth.
So, I skipped to another article, entitled “Ten Great Cities for Older Singles.”
Stop right there.
I’m not an “Older Single.”
An “Older Single” is a slice of cheese that’s past its expiration date.
I haven’t expired yet. I know because I’m still working.
Still, I read on and found good news. According to the article, Philadelphia was the eighth greatest city for us older singles.
Wahoo!
The article suggested that “icebreaking opportunities for first dates” include a trip to Independence Hall.
What an idea!
When it comes to the forefathers, who doesn’t think foreplay?
The article also suggested a first date to the Philadelphia Zoo.
Another spot that spells romance!
Who hasn’t felt primal at the Primate House?
But of course, the more I read through the AARP website, the more I actually began to find articles that interested me, even though I’m not retired. I started to think that maybe I should join AARP. It felt fraudulent, since I’m not retired, but that seemed kinda technical. And two friends of mine, both my age, joined, and they got discounts at the movies.
I clicked through to the membership page, which said it cost sixteen bucks a year to join, which was cheap enough. I would have saved money if I joined for five years, but by this point I was feeling so old that green bananas were off my shopping list.
Still, I couldn’t decide whether to join.
I felt ambivalent about classifying myself as Officially Old.
I told myself, I may be middle-aged, but I’m not aged.
And after all, Mother Mary is an AARP member. Would I really want to join a club that would have us both?
But that may be a different question.
Just when I was mulling this over, an email request came in from my book publicist to go on RLTV, a channel that I’d never heard of. So, I went online and found out that it was Retirement Living Television.
Me? Fresh cheddar that I am?
It’s a funny thing.
Puberty is a line that’s clearly delineated. Your breasts pop.
But how about old age? Your breasts drop?
Enough said.
I went online to the RLTV website, which had photos of people I admire, like Jane Pauley and Bob Vila. Neither of them are retired, but they’re still cool, even though they’re as old as I am, or even older.
Except that the website did have an article on “Benjamin Franklin – Science Superstar.”
Yikes.
But still, that kind of thinking seemed mean-spirited and wrong.
So, I joined AARP.
I love being my age, and I’ve learned that age is arbitrary, anyway. So, what if I’m lumped in with sixty, seventy, eighty, and even ninety-year-olds?
I consider myself…lucky.
© Lisa Scottoline