CTPost.com
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
BRIDGEPORT -- Leigh, who never gives away her age, smiled as she explained to Seymour why she likes living at Watermark 3030 Park, a senior living community.
"I love it here," she said. "There is a swimming pool and..."
"And a lot of men that are not as good looking as me," said Seymour, 85, who lives at Embassy Towers.
"What else do you do, besides fooling around with me," he asked, obviously flirting.
"Well, what else is there to do besides fooling around with you," Leigh said, playing along.
Leigh and Seymour, like the others participating in Watermark's first senior speed dating event declined to give their last names, had fun getting to know each other Wednesday afternoon -- if only for five minutes.
The event, which was hosted by CTMatch.com, got off to a rough start. Only 16 of the 20 men who registered actually showed up, while about 24 women participated.
But, the single seniors quickly got into a groove. Although the men were supposed to visit a different lady's table every five minutes until they had met everyone, some men doubled back when no one was looking.
Peter and Lynn, for example, chatted twice, discussing the government bailout and deficit. An hour into the event, Peter was the only person Lynn thought had potential for a second date. Everyone else, she said, was well, too senior.
The 57-year-old said she hadn't expected all of the men to be 70 or older. "The guys over there, they can't hear you and they get tongue-tied," the part-time aerobic instructor said. "The last guy I dated was 44 and couldn't keep up with me."
Westport resident Lois, 71, whose husband died two years ago, also wished the men were younger.
"My husband would have been the age of some of them," she said, "but he looked much better."
Every participant had a different tactic Wednesday in the speed dating event.
Richard liked to tell the women about his love for watching the stock market on television, which elicited very different reactions. "Oh, I love it; I love the stock market," was Lois' response.
But Jeanette, 72, who was hoping for instant attraction or chemistry with someone, preferred traveling over television.
"How depressing," was her response to Richard's daily entertainment choice. "What do you do for fun?" she asked him.
"What do I do for fun? I watch the stock market," Richard said.
"Oh, that's not fun," Jeanette replied.
Dottie, a Fairfield resident in her early 70s, said she was looking for someone who shared the same interests. "I would like to go to a movie or dinner or a walk or a concert with someone else, with a man," she said. But alas, five minutes was not long enough to determine whether someone was worth seeing again, she determined.
Only men and women who had circled "yes" next to each other's names would be given contact information.
"What I tell people is if the time goes by quickly, circle yes," said Robert Tamiso, the CTMatch.com event organizer. "If the time drags on, circle no."
Kevin Hunter, executive director at Watermark, said the purpose of the event was to get the seniors to socialize and meet new people, especially in time for Valentine's Day. "The folks here still have a lot of years ahead of them," he said. "So many folks are so isolated if they are not active in their church or a senior center. That's not healthy."
A second speed dating session scheduled for March is already booked and the Watermark is considering making the event a monthly occurrence. Of the hundreds of residents living at the Park Avenue facility, there are only 14 married couples.
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Seniors-looking-for-love-in-five-minutes-of-speed-1006341.php
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