For the past several months, I’ve been half-heartedly toying with the dating feature on Facebook. It’s like a lot of other dating apps and websites in that you have to write a profile about yourself, answer a bunch of insightful questions and post a few pictures, but it’s different from most dating sites in that it’s totally free, which is probably the best feature.

My kids told me about it before the pandemic and being the wild, free spirit, adventurer that I am, I decided to give it a try. I wrote what I thought was a pretty witty profile. I answered all the insightful questions, and I uploaded a bunch of cool pictures of me kayaking, jumping out of a plane and riding around on my motorcycle.

Once I clicked on the button to make it live, I just put my feet up and waited for all the “likes” to start pouring in. Only they didn’t. They didn’t even trickle in. They didn’t come in at all. At first I thought I had hit the wrong button and no one could see my profile, but then I found out that it was indeed live for everyone to see.

After the first few months I began getting the odd “like”, but they were from women who obviously hadn’t fully read my profile, or saw my pictures. When I say “women” I actually mean three women. Three women in the first six months.

All three were over the age of 65 and all three had profiles that didn’t exactly scream “Hey look at me. I am a physically active woman with a sense of adventure who loves experiencing new things.”

They sounded more like, “Hey look at me. I am in the waning years of my life and I am looking for someone who I can take care of and who will look after me. Some-one with whom I can share pictures of my grandchildren.” Heck, I don’t even have any grandchildren. And I know this makes me sound like some sort of an ageist ogre, but I am 62 years young, not 62 years old and there is a difference. A big difference.

The funny thing is that I met a guy the other day who is 72. His wife passed away last year and he has been testing the waters lately in search of a possible companion.

He also has a number of issues that limit his ability to do activities that require a certain level of physical ability. He is look-ing for someone to enjoy a good meal and a fancy bottle of wine with at a nice restaurant., long strolls in the park and the occasional trip to a five-star resort where the most stressful thing is making your dinner reservation on time.

He has joined a number of dating sites including Match, with very limited results. For the most part, he has had the exact opposite experience that I’ve had. Instead of getting “likes” from mature women who are looking to take life easy, he is getting likes from women, and this is in his words not mine, who want to climb Kilimanjaro, swim across the English Channel and sail around the world. The other problem was that most of them live out of town. Some live as far away as Québec City and Niagara Falls. That’s quite a commute for a first date.

My first thought was to suggest we trade leads, but then I came up with a better idea – why not create my own dating site exclusively for singles living in Orléans?

I would either write the profiles myself, or hire a freelancer, and I would get someone to take professional profile pictures.

Now I know what you’re thinking – Fred’s only wants to do this so he can get his pick of the most eligible women in Orléans. And while that might not necessarily be false, the fact of the matter is that I am not currently on the market. I love my post-pandemic life way too much. I get to do what I want to do, when I want to do it and I don’t have to ask anyone for permission, or worry that they might get upset.

I’ve worked far too hard and sacrificed far too much over the past 20 years to get to the point where I want to enjoy my life to the fullest. In fact, I am still having to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week and make sacrifices in order to live my life on my own terms. I may not be in the twilight of my life, but I’m way past high noon.

I’m sure there will come a day when I will meet someone and want to settle down. Someone who will enjoy doing things with me just as much as I will enjoy doing things with them. In fact, I already have a candi-date for the position. The stars and the moon just haven’t aligned themselves in the right position yet.

So, I’m good. But I know a lot of people who aren’t. They need help and they are seeking it through a plethora of dating sites which are both expensive and not exactly the best matchmakers. So stay tuned, your’s truly may one day decide to play match-maker.

(If you wish to comment on this or any other View Point column please write to Fred Sherwin at fsherwin@orleansstar.ca)