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Age
just a number, not a dating determinant
Krystle
Ralston
Age:
we all try to escape it, run from it
and sometimes even deny it. We always
want to be older or younger than we are.
A woman lying about her age is like a
monk refusing sex. It just always happens.
The number with which we identify ourselves becomes even more problematic when
the people around us are a year or two ahead. Does this make them extraordinarily
different, and if so, is it for better or worse?
At 16, I was an average dorky teenage girl, but a mature one nonetheless. I
hadn’t had much experience in the boy department when I met a certain
one who stole my heart. He was 20.
Everyone told me to stay far away, that he didn’t want to get to know
me, just, umm, parts of me. He was more respectful and calm than any boy I
had ever known. He didn’t rush anything, and we’re still friends
to this day.
When I dated someone who happened to be four years older than me, I thought
nothing of it. Our friends did. Their parents did. The term “jailbait” was
muttered more than once.
All of the boys my age were sex-hungry morons who used pick-up lines such as, “Let’s
go in the back of the bio lab and discover each other’s anatomy!” Boys
at this particular age are growing, mentally and physically, and are at times
not right for a girl who is looking for someone who is slightly above that
awkward point that she’s left behind.
The few and far between slightly more grown-up boys are surrounded by girls
whose vocabularies sound something like, “He said she likes him and she
said she liked him but not anymore because she likes this other guy who I think
likes another guy!”
Why is age such a huge thing? When two people care for each other, it doesn’t
matter. So your boyfriend graduated from kindergarten before you did. You girlfriend
got her license while you still had your moped.
Even if one of you takes the college journey before the other, the depth of
the relationship should not be held back by something as ridiculous how old
you are.
Krystle Ralston is a journalism transfer student.
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