Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m old, I’m not dead” or something similar? My mother used to tell me that she might be in her sixties, but inside she was still in her twenties.
This had nothing to do with her intelligence or maturity, because my mother was both. But at some point after she hit a certain age, she became more outspoken than she already was. Especially about men. And they loved it.
She would flirt with men half her age, telling a man in the elevator he was handsome or sexy with a laugh or a smile. My mom said flirting was no longer scary because there was no danger of it being reciprocated. She also felt it would make the flirtee’s day, so why hold it in. I’m not talking about older people dating or finding companions. This was absolutely not that. This was different. It was her being able to say all those things she felt inside without worrying about rejection.
I can tell you I witnessed this many times. It wasn’t creepy, a little embarrassing if I was standing right there, but it was charming and boosted many a male ego.
She ended up fangirling over a male model she found in print ads for Macy’s. She collected pictures of him in a binder and my cousin actually had a T-shirt made for her with his picture on it. It sounds crazy, but it happened. I was there. This from a woman who was a teen at the height of The Beatles invasion, and when Elvis was still a hottie. Yet according to her, except for her infatuation with Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, she had never really fangirled over anyone before in her life.
This little crush of hers had been going on for a few months, and one day I was working a catering gig for a photo shoot in San Francisco. There were a few models present and we were delivering food. One of the guys came up to me and thanked me for the delivery. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him.
As I pulled the cargo elevator gate down on my way out, the light bulb in my head finally went off. It was him, the model my mother was such a fan of. I told her and she almost had a heart attack, well not literally, but she was asking me all sorts of questions for days. What did he say, why didn’t I tell him that my mother was a fan…True story.
She would say, “I may be old, but I’m not attracted to older men. I want to look at a handsome young guy, not some old geezer.” Maybe that’s why so many older women still read romance.
Thank goodness Pinterest wasn’t available then, or I wouldn’t have been able to pull her away from all the hot guy pics on there, which I, of course, only look at as research into my characters.
I get it though. I may be getting older, but there’s a part of me inside that is still in my twenties. That’s the same part that put Zac Efron on my list.
Yeah, I’m sure you have one of those lists too. Whose on your list?
Want a peek inside the mind of a romance writer? Check out my blog post entitled Romance-What are you thinking?
You can find me online at www.jennifersenhajiauthor.com
Thanks for reading.
Jennifer Senhaji
Exploring the Art of Writing and Self-Publishing 