Yes, parents and love of my life, you heard me.
I dated someone who was fifteen years my senior. Surprise! I know what you guys are thinking, and no, I was not a sugar baby. I was just a regular girl trying to get a drink at the bar.
When I say dated maybe I mean had an on and off relationship for approximately a year or two... you know good old "no labels" type relationship (or something like that). Whoever said, "age is just a number"—you obviously don't know what you're talking about.
Age is a number and it definitely defines who you are as a person.
I was—cough cough—very young when I met this man (hey, I want some privacy) but I was. I consider myself to be pretty experienced in the world, having moved out at such a young age. My life has been a series of trial and error, this being one of them.
We had a regular relationship like every other couple. I wasn't sure if it looked weird when we walked around together and if it was, I never noticed. He taught me how to cook. We shared the same interests in various things. He was experienced with life and that was of great value because he gave good insight.
But like every relationship, we had our downfalls and age being the biggest one.
There were awkward moments when he and his friends would be talking about something of a different era, my excuse was always "I'm foreign, I don't get it anyways" but let's be real here, I just didn't know what they were talking about because I was more than a decade younger than him.
However, that didn't bother me.
What bothered me when he would disregard my issues because I was much younger.
I understand my millennial, first world problems were annoying to hear, but know those were issues that really bugged me at the time. Whether or not they are much older or the same age as you, the last thing you want to hear from the person you care about is "your stupid teenage problems don't matter."
I felt less valued and disregarded because of my age. That led to a whirlwind of insecurities and years of self-improvement.
I don't regret dating him, it was an experience. We had good and bad times. When I was in that relationship, I made so many excuses "age is just a number" being the most used quote. I now realize that age is more than that. You're older physically and mentally and in most cases, differences in career positions are pretty prominent. Everyone wants to have an equal—not a superior or inferior.
My relationship didn't work out and I'm not mad.
I'm sure there are plenty of couples out there, with a large age gap, were able to work through their issues. It's not that I didn't want to but there are some sacrifices I was not willing to make and neither did he.
I'm currently dating someone who is just three years older than me but he has excelled exponentially in his career as well being mentally mature. It feels nice to have someone who can motivate and grow with at the same pace and not have someone who acts like my second dad, no offense.
