No, of course not, Orchid. You sound like a great woman. I guess its hard to explain. I'm not ashamed to be a grandmother. I'm crazy about my grandkids.

I'm looking at singlehood though and for me, a feral woman, I've not yet reached your level of acceptance and resignation to being of a certain cronological age.

This girl for some odd reason, considers me as a rival and that rankles me. I'm not as gorgeous as Demi Moore and this guy certainly isn't Ashton Kutcher, but I can sort of understand their relationship a bit now.

I just consider it another facet of reality I'm just beginning to understand where before, I would have poo poo'd the whole idea of a much younger man and a much older female.

He is gorgeous on so many levels.

The girl I mentioned has no style, is bovine, unkempt, doesn't wear any makeup, and is as crude as yesterday's soiled sheets. Why SHOULD I cow to her insults and attempts to belittle me in front of my co workers??

There is a definite double set of standards in our society. Whether we like to admit it or not, we all have our own filters and we like to pidgeon hole people to fit our own preconceived ideas of what is acceptable and palatable and what is not.

Personally, I will continue to be myself with a certain coquettish innocence with a flip side of years of experience and expertise. If that threatens the likes of the twenty somethings at work....Oh well, then.