Going on my first date in 33 years...

[Startstruck]

Actually, I'm not at all sure it is a date, but that's OK. It's a drink with and interesting and attractive acquaintance who may become a friend or something else or nothing, we'll see.

So what do I need to know about dating in the 21st century?

Relax, enjoy yourself, don't put too much pressure on the whole thing. If it doesn't turn into anything then at least you'll have had a fun evening with good company (I hope!).

So it's a drink at a "nice" pub, mid afternoon on a Sunday. What would "success" look like? A couple of hours? When I do that with people I really get on with we're there until closing 😆

Success is defined by you really! If you're looking for repeat dates then you won't know if it's "successful" for a while 😛

I know. I'm just thinking with starting mid afternoon, there's potential for both/ either of us to be thinking how do I get away? 😆

What do you need to know?

Everything is different!

I last dated in the 90s. You met through mutual friends or on a night out. You went out together. You hopefully had fun. You waited for their call. You went on a few dates, and then it was agreed you were dating.

Ain't none of that holding now! You text flirt, but don't. You have to wait a certain amount of time to reply, else you look too needy. You allude to things you like on social media, but only the right things. You don't cyber stalk them. Sexting is a thing.

And dating isn't really dating. You're meeting someone, then seeing them, then you chat if you're exclusive or not, but that doesn't mean you're together.

The man I'm currently seeing calls us FWB, but we share life together, message at least 50 times a day as we live a distance from each other and help each other on life admin tasks. The B are dying out too, as we've been seeing each other on and off for 3 years. We're fine if the other has sex with someone else, as long as we test before we see each other again. It doesn't feel like FWB to me. I'm not sure there is a label for it. I just know it's working for us right now.

Bottom line is that it's very different to dating in 1992. Good luck with it.

You're possibly overthinking this, @Startstruck ? Why not stay in the moment, there's no need to put a stop watch on it or think in advance about anything other than being about 2 minutes fashionably late.

I had zero preconceptions of how long my first date with (now) DH would be or whether we would run out of things to talk about. I didn't buy a new outfit or do my hair in a new and different style, I can't even remember what we talked about, come to think of it, only that it was a relaxed easy and uncomplicated afternoon.

I would expect so 😆

@Startstruck good luck and let us know how it went