She never expected herself to be in a relationship with a younger man. Especially one who was ten years her senior. It crossed her mind on several occasions that when she turned thirty, he would only be twenty. A mere child in the eyes of her friends. Yet while she never concerned herself with the opinions of her friends,deep down she worried about the logistics of a relationship with a younger man. It couldn’t be ignored that she held a decade over him, ten years of experience and knowledge that he had yet to learn.
Her entire life consisted of dating older men. Dudes who ranged between five or twenty years older. Guys who brought her Labatts when she was only eighteen, a mere freshman in college. Her first kiss was with a twenty-five year old senior in the backyard of a frat house. Her first time was with her older boyfriend named “Chad” who brought a new definition to the term “cowgirl.” She liked older men and it had nothing to do with “daddy issues” or problems with past relationships or “situationships.” She enjoyed the pleasure of being the younger one. So when she started dating someone who was younger than her usual norm, it was strange.
It wasn’t until she dated a younger man that she realized the differences between them. The difference in their own personal generations felt like a tremendous gap. Her partner’s education and outlook on life was vastly different then hers. She didn’t understand his use of slang or references. She didn’t agree with his point of view on current events nor did she understand his love for certain books or TV shows from his childhood. He talked passionately about Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series. She didn’t know the books nor the author, as her childhood consisted of counting down the days till J.K. Rowling published her next book in the Harry Potter series. He cared little for the series and never experienced the thrill of awaiting the next installment, as the last book was published the year he was born. Then when he talked of childhood TV shows from Nickelodeon like the Blue’s Clues, Drake&Josh and iCarly, she felt lost. For she didn’t understand the plot nor the references he made of certain characters like “Gibby” or “Josh Parker.” But that was only the surface.
She didn’t remember the night they met or the first time he kissed her, but she remembered the first moment she realized she loved him.
Somehow the differences didn’t seem all that different. Though they were years apart, the traditions, core values and preferences held them together. The TV shows, books, education and childhood experiences meant little when it came to the bigger picture. For she realized that through the months they spent together, the gap started getting smaller and smaller as they grew past the surface level. Truly, she thought, they didn’t seem that different after all.