Disclaimer: This has absolutely nothing to do with saving money. It has more to do with my social life, which has gone from zero to 70 in a very short amount of time.

Who would have thought that on the cusp of true "seniorhood," Wild Blue Yonder would be dating. Yes, I have dipped my toe in the online dating waters after a very long hiatus. I gave up on dating a long time ago, and then when my mother became sick, I dropped everything to take care of her as best I could. After that, I started looking after my father, and that, too, takes up a fair amount of my time, but it is something I feel very strongly about doing.

Bachelor #1 is retired but keeps busy playing landlord/handyman for several rental buildings he owns. He's a little older than I would like, which would be 9 years older than me. Maybe it doesn't matter much in your 30s, but it could at my age. He is very trim and looks good for his age. He has been active politically in the city where he lives, ran and lost in a state senate race because he's a moderate Republican/libertarian in a solidly Democratic city. He showed me a letter he just wrote resigining from some Republican committee he served on because he dislikes the lockstep way the party is remaining loyal to Trump and promoting the election fraud thing.

I also don't like that he lives about 50 minutes away from me. I find myself wanting to stick closer to home these days, and traveling to be with someone takes a lot of time out of your day. Of course, I'm not traveling to work anymore, so this should not be a big deal.

His personal life is a little complicated. His ex-wife died a few years ago (long after they had divorced) and made him promise to take care of her 2 daughters (not his), who are now teens.  He had told me earlier that he wanted to take things slow, but he asked me if we could get together again this Sunday. (I have other plans.) He is hoping I invite him over to my place for dinner. I told him I am vegan and he won't like my cooking. He said he is fine with mac 'n cheese.

Bachelor #2 is closer to my own age and an architect who does commercial work. He's about a 30-minute drive away, and shares some interests with me including nature/outdoors/wildlife/kayaking/gardening and he's a liberal, like me. He's been married twice.

I had stronger feelings for Bachelor #2 from the start and after having met both of them for the first time last week, for coffee, I was planning on parting ways with Bachelor #1, but we met for lunch today and I'm beginning to feel more interested in him. He seems very agreeable and easy to get along with.

I see Bachelor #2 for dinner Saturday night here in town, and he's coming to my place to pick me up.

I really dislike dating 2 people at the same time. I can't remember what I tell each of them and probably end up repeating myself, plus I feel it's somewhat deceptive, although I know people do this. I think my problem in the past was that I tended to rule men out too quickly without really giving them a chance beyond one or two dates, so I'm trying to give it more time.