My mom has been single for years, and she’s gotten to the point where she’s comfortable in her routine. I know she doesn’t actually want to be alone for the rest of her life, but how do you meet someone as a 50-something woman who works from home and doesn’t get out much? Ever since she bought a cottage in the beach town where she grew up, she’s been going out on the town more often and I’ve been there to witness it a couple times. I guess you could say I was even her wing woman. Here’s what I learned:
- Alcohol helps. A lot. Not that I need to get wasted to have a good time going out with my mom or anything, but having a couple of drinks definitely helps me brush off any possible awkwardness that comes along with witnessing her flirt with guys and generally act like she’s in her 20s again.
- My mom has a type. Her age definitely hasn’t lowered her standards any. She’s not going to settle for a guy she’s not attracted to just so she doesn’t have to be alone. She’s been single this long and she’ll keep being single until she finds someone who’s worthy.
- Tequila is not her drink. As someone who enjoys an occasional tequila shot, I’ve learned that I did not get that from my mom. She could drink her signature vodka and soda with lime all night and be just fine, but the second she smells tequila, the night is all over.
- There’s no shortage of guys who are interested in her. In fact, she probably gets hit on more than I do. She’s kind of like that friend that overshadows everyone else in the group, which might be annoying if she wasn’t my mom. At least I don’t ever feel like we’re competing for the same guy.
- She is the tiniest bit old fashioned. My mom has always told me it’s better to let a guy come to you. While I don’t necessarily think that’s bad advice, I think there are situations where making the first move is the way to go. Granted, her generation does things a bit differently, and I’ve had to adjust to the lazy millennial type of guy who doesn’t like making any effort.
- We have one long-standing rule about age. My mom has always liked them young. That’s why I had to implement the rule that she’s not allowed to date any guy who is closer to my age than hers. That means he can’t be any more than 11 years younger than her. For some reason, she thinks that is extremely limiting.
- Seeing her flirt sometimes make me roll my eyes. I know her so well that I can tell when she’s turning on the charm. It’s interesting to see her flirting strategies and how guys respond to them, but at the same time she’s still my mom and it’s kind of nausea-inducing at times.
- How a guy reacts to her having a 30-year-old daughter is one of her favorite tests. She’ll never get sick of telling the story about the time I met up with her at a bar with my friends and she was in the middle of talking to a guy when I arrived. She told him I was her daughter, got distracted for a second and then when she turned back to him, he had disappeared. Guess the fact that she had a daughter that was of legal drinking age was too much for him. It happens.
- She really doesn’t need my help. In fact, I probably hold her back a little because she doesn’t want to turn the flirting up to 100 when I’m there. My mom has serious game, and as weird as that is for me to realize, it’s a lot better than a mom who needed me to control her online dating profile and set up dates on her behalf.
- It’s nice to have a mom that’s also my friend. Some people can’t imagine even having a drink with their mom, let alone going out to a bar with her. I feel lucky that I have a mom I can go out with, but who also reminds me to drinks a bunch of water before going to bed, and will probably make me breakfast when we get up in the morning. It’s the best of both worlds.
