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DATING
Love & the Age Gap — Does it Truly Matter?
It’s about more than numbers
I wasn’t always a cougar. My first boyfriend was four years my senior. After that relationship, I mostly dated guys in my age range (give or take a year).
And while I can’t pinpoint exactly when it became my preference, I do remember the first significantly younger man with who I had an amorous relationship. We were 14 years apart, and as if that weren’t enough of a challenge, he lived in Paris while I was still in my hometown, New York City.
At 34, I was ready for a change in my life. It had been two years since leaving a toxic relationship (we were only a year apart). This new guy and I met through a online language exchange program a few months before I was set to leave for a short vacation in Paris and London (with my mom). We agreed to meet up in Paris.
There was obvious chemistry. When I returned to NYC, we stayed in touch. Soon a long distance romance blossomed. We got serious — talking marriage and a future together. I’ll admit to romanticizing the possibility of trading bagels for croissants, the City That Never Sleeps for the City of Lights. Dating a 20-year-old college student was exciting. Initially.
