Date men from United States / California / Anza, 58 year old

Date someone special from United States. Of course the phrase isn't mine but it sort of makes me think of life here in Matchville. In previous iterations of this essay I've tended to be lighthearted, humorous, and perhaps flippant. I guess I'm not in that kind of mood today. Maybe I'll change my username to “TakesRejectionWell”. After all, to be here and to have thin skin just doesn't work that well.
At times I've thought about how Match.com is like the prison in The Shawshank Redemption. The cafeteria is coed, men sitting at long tables on one side and women on the other. We eat in total silence, but we are permitted to pass notes to the ladies on the other side. Our eyes constantly scan the tables across the room for just the right face to go over the wall with. That also makes me think of a woman that is here now that I discovered on one of the other dating sites. The interesting thing about the other site is that you can see the post date of the pictures. One of hers said 2006. That's almost five years. It gives a whole new meaning to “doing time”.
I hope you're not disappointed if I forgo that list of adjectives about me and the laundry list of attributes I'm looking for in a partner, but as I've read hundreds of profiles I can't think of one where their lists told me half as much about them as how they wrote. If you can't tell I love to people watch and am a bit of a closet cultural anthropologist. Match.com is a great place to do field work. But, I am not here for field work. I like a lot of people here around fifty, find themselves coming to that crossroads of their lives where their years of building family and careers will be behind us. Instead, we are confronted with the probability of another thirty years of an active, healthy and enjoyable life and are really looking for the right person to share it with. So I guess this is the spot in the essay where those nasty lists go. But still I think I'll leave them out. Won't it give us something to talk about?
Although I lived most of my life in the Seattle area I now live in rural community in the mountains between San Diego and Palm Springs. If I had known how much fun it was to live in a small town I would have done it years earlier. As it's above 4,000 feet there are really 4 seasons and we do get at least some snow every winter. My second foster son, who is 19 left the house last July and I am getting used to being alone in a 5 bedroom house. It's different for me. But, I'm looking forward to having the freedom to travel a little at least on weekends. Right now I'm spending a little more time working than I'd like, but in the next 4 to 6 years one of my dreams is to spend summers entertaining friends and guests on a sailboat in the San Juan islands and Puget Sound and the rest of time down here where it's warmer and drier. Retirement isn't something I can really get my head around though. I think I'll have to find something else creative to do.
As there are no gyms in Anza I've taken advantage of one of my 5 bedrooms and have added a home gym. The days I don't use it, I usually walk/hike for 90 minutes.