My dad turned 55 this year. I think we can all agree that it’s a big number, and a very significant one when feel like you’re nowhere near that age. 60 is literally around the corner and after a year like 2020, it feels as though time isn’t going at a normal pace at all. Obviously because I’m as young as I am, I can’t even imagine edging towards 60, but it’s a reality for my dad. He’s getting older and at the moment he’s by himself.
My parents split up 8 years ago. I was living away from them in London when it happened and I was absolutely devastated when I got the news. He phoned me to tell me it was over and then there was about 9 months of drama before he finally moved out and they began living completely separate lives. I really don’t like thinking about those days, because it was extremely stressful for me. I was like the mediator and I was living absolutely miles away.
Since then my mum has been with someone, but my dad hasn’t had it as easy. While she has stuck with the same guy (WHO I DON’T LIKE!) my dad has introduced me to one woman he was seeing a few years back and apparently there have been a couple more too, but he hasn’t been able to hold down a relationship for very long. I don’t know if he’s looking but I hope that he’s using a safe dating sites for over 50 because I know there are a lot of scams about targeting middle aged people looking for love.
I know that you can find love at any age. It’s absolutely possible. I just really hope that it happens for him again. He was with my mum for I think 2 years before they had me, so just over 20 years together, so that’s a massive chunk of his life. As he’s not as computer literate as me, I fear that he will fall for one of those tricks that are basically catfishing you and end up defrauding you, but I’m not really in a place to police who he’s talking to online.
I’m fortunate that I found my partner before online dating became the norm for how people meet. We laugh about it all the time because we actually ‘met’ online but it wasn’t on a dating site. It wasn’t even a social site. We weren’t even looking to do anything like that. We were very lucky. Now you actually kind of have to look online to find someone.
My dad doesn’t know his way around the web in the way that I do, but he’s a great talker in person, so I hope he finds a way to put that across if he’s talking to women online. My dad goes to the gym 4-5 days a week. I still think he looks relatively good. He definitely doesn’t look his age. I just think that he needs to make sure he gets himself on the right sites, isn’t cringey and he will definitely find a partner he can be happy with. I still have faith.
