Age ain't nuthin' but a number: How low will you go?


I'm over 40 so as much as I might eye up Cam Newton like he's freshly grilled lobster dipped in drawn butter laying on top of roasted garlic smashed potatoes next to a chili-rubbed filet mignon... that ship has sailed. (I also might be hungry but that's a different topic)

I gotta just say no to young men that I could have given birth to. That's my line in the sand. [Though um, Cam - you know - if you  are reading this, we can be friends. Special, special friends. Once or twice.]

As it is, Le Dude is over five years younger than me and every once and a while we bump into an issue where I have to remind him, "You needed to catch me in my late twenties, early thirties for that to work." He just rolls his eyes for the most part though I did catch him muttering, "Some days I feel older than you." under his breath. Side-eye to you, sir.

I don't really get the cradle-robbing feel with David. The age difference is less than a decade. He's his own man, mature in his own right, chockful of his own ideals and opinions and not in need of a second mother. 

But I ran into a guy from high school the other day. He graduated a year or so before me (read he's older) but appears to have kept himself looking right. When I saw him, he had a young girl on his arm that I assumed was his daughter. I thought this because she was rocking some clothes that shouted "this is my first new outfit that wasn't purchased in the juniors department" and she called him Daddy. So picture me schooling my face into blankness when he pulled her forward and introduced her as DeeDee, his bride to be. DeeDee might be able to drink legally in the state of Texas. May. Be. Either way, he's got a good 20+ years on her.

I was uber-conflicted. On the one hand, do you bruh. On the other hand - this was easier before I had nieces and nephews. The eldest BougieNephew is eighteen now and if he rolled up in here with a woman my age, I might be cutting some eyes. Then again, who am I to tell Stella how to get her groove back? (Though that didn't work out so well, did it?) Moving on...

On the flip, when I was still unattached and looking to get my mingle on, I kept getting approached by Cat Daddy and dem. (or is it Cap Daddy? Whichever, you know what I mean). This cat:

Or this cat:
I'm not ready. So ten years up or down is my cut off. Or maybe it's not as much the number as a state of mind? A way of being?  I just read a book where the hero is 50 and fights like hell not to fall in love with this 29 year old woman but they had this really cool vibe and they understood each other. And the whole book, I'm wondering - that's not so bad is it? I mean they're both adults. Different generations but if they like it...

My point and my question to you is this - how young is too young? Not just for you but for everybody. I'm not talking statutory here, people. Let's not break any laws. I'm just wondering if there's a number at which the union seems... unbalanced? Too much May to too much December? Or is it hard enough to find love without attaching an age limit of an expiration date to it? Do tell...