🚀 go-pugleaf

Aqua wrote (in answer to Katherine, a college student who found romance by
chance and wondered why others don't just find love without trying):

>And Katharine you must remember that your situation is different from
>that of people much older than you.  As age increases so does the
>proportion of the population which is married or otherwise involved
>making the odds very low indeed in some areas.  So why
>not facilitate those 'chance' meetings with an ad in publication or on
>the Net?

I do think age makes a difference here.  Little kids seem to have no
trouble asking friends out to play.  College students have (despite plenty
of other pressures, I am not so old as to have forgotten that there were
stresses at all stages) a lot of chances to encounter new, young, single
folk.  And to have the freedom to pursue the opportunities that arise.  I
mean a schedule that is more flexible than a full-time professionals and
less constraints than a single parent.  (Speaking here generally, I
realize that there are others who, as I did, work their way through
school, and still others who are married and/or parenting.)  My point is
just that at some stages of life the odds of chance encounters blossoming
into love are less (not zero) and also that, in my experience at least,
you get a sense of ownership over your own life by taking positive steps
to get out the door, make the time, and open yourself to new friendships
consciously.  When I was college age, it might have struck me as
unromantic to be "looking for love", but now it feels empowering to be
reaching out for what I want.

--Leslie (goldylox41@aol.com)