This is one story from HuffPost Fifty's new series "This Will Be Our Year: 15 Women Over 50 Shaking Things Up In 2015." We'll be following 15 remarkable ladies throughout the year as they make a radical change in their lives, whether it's embarking on a 500-mile hike, starting a new career or attempting to find love on the Internet. Follow each woman's story here.
Anne Seidel, 58, will be starting to online date and focusing on finding a new partner.
"Not a whole lot has happened. I had a lot of friends and family in town and I’ve started a new job, so I haven’t been pursuing it as much as I should. They’re all getting ready to leave in about a week, and I’m going to hit it again.
I dated the last guy for six weeks, and then we parted ways. I didn’t have a real clear answer for that -- I was fine in the relationship. He just started calling me less and less and texting me less and less. He pretty much just faded away. So I called him to talk about that and he didn’t want to talk about it. So I was like, ‘OK, whatever.’ Men didn’t really do that the last time I dated. I just think now they don’t have the social skills to call you up and tell you they’re not interested or they just don’t want to confront that. It’s just easier to fade away with texting and email.
After that, I continued dating. I’m of the philosophy that you either want to be here or you don’t. And if you don’t, it’s not my problem -- it’s yours. I’m not losing any sleep over it. Over the past two months, I’ve replied to messages and have had a date or two, but I haven’t really been working at it like I was before. I’m just taking a break for four to six weeks.
I still want it to happen, and I know I have to work for it. You have to take the time to reply and search for people you’re interested in and keep replying to their emails and go out. I had a date about three or four weeks ago where we were supposed to meet for drinks. We were texting each other on the way there. He said he was running 10 minutes late, so I said I’d get us a table. He never showed up and I never heard from him again. In the back of my mind, I think that maybe he came in, saw me and wasn’t interested. But I find that hard to believe, because my pictures are very current and realistic on the dating site. I don’t try to figure people out.
I’m going to start searching and writing guys I’m interested in more often and really try to get a date -- not just sit there and email back and forth for weeks. What are you on here for if you don’t want to go out on a date and meet people? I guess some people just aren’t as forward or blunt or to-the-point as I am.
I don’t know what I really expected when I started this. I thought for sure I’d maybe get into something a little serious within a year, and that hasn’t happened. But then again, the year’s not up either. It could happen any day at any moment -- you just never know."
See Anne taking a break from online dating and enjoying time with friends and family:
