Freshly divorced - now what? I'm 45, female, recently divorced, and living in a small town. You don't meet someone new here quickly, especially not when out of all the men I picked the only acceptable one, who in the end turned out to be "unacceptable" after all. It's not easy to suddenly be alone again at my age in a small town. The more or less happy housewives give you pitying looks, while the men (the married ones too) give you lecherous stares.

But it has its upsides, too. I only do what I want, I make decisions only for myself, I don't have to check with anyone. I think it's great. It's just the sex I miss. I know all the men in town and I don't find any of them attractive. A woman has her standards, and that doesn't change after a divorce either. But making new acquaintances in a small town is almost impossible.

meeting new people

Meeting People Through Personal Ads

More or less by chance, while flipping through the newspaper, I came across a personal ad. "Woman, 45, divorced, seeks..." "That could be me," I thought. And why not, really? So I sent in my personal ad that very same day, so that my ad would actually, and not just hypothetically, appear in the issue after next. To be honest, my expectations weren't quite met. I had pictured myself being swamped with offers and, after a long selection process, inviting only the best ones to meet. Reality looked a bit different. Only three replies in the mailbox, two of which I threw out right away. The third was from the next town over, where I arranged to meet him. At the meeting itself, I realized it was Rick, my ex-husband's coworker. Since he looked at me just as horrified, he apparently hadn't expected me either. After the initial shock, we both laughed, had a nice coffee together and talked about how hard it is to make new acquaintances. But there was no exchange of phone numbers and no plan to meet again. And no sex either.

Meeting People on the Internet

After this failure, I scoured the internet looking for new acquaintances. It's amazing how many options there are. I signed up for a dating site right away, only to cancel my membership the next day. People can see you there, with your photo and personal details, and I guess I'm just not ready for that yet. I'll simply go on vacation and make my new acquaintances there. And maybe the sex will happen by itself then.