Age: 21 Years Old
Day of Challenge: Day 10
Date: 25 August 2010
Location: Greeley

Working for the United States Census 2010 provided me with some of the strangest encounters I’ve had in my entire life.  One of them comes in the form of an older woman.  She was in her 60s, I do believe.  She was unhappily divorced and enjoyed talking about her asshole of a husband.  The strange thing is, she was one of the oddly hippest, happiest, and most enjoyable people to be around.  After months of working with her, I realized there was more to her than met the eye.

The term cougar usually refers to women in their forties going after jailbait-age men.  So, I can’t call her a cougar.  She was a bit older than a cougar would be.  Over the months of working with her and having deep conversations with her, I started to realize that she was lonely and starting to take an interest in me.  There was even a very strange conversation one day where we talked about the dating age range and how it expands as you get older.

Towards the end of my time with the Census, she invited me to be her partner at a dance class.  The class was $5 and would be held in the back of the independent movie theatre in town.  I remember very specifically showing up dressed up and trying to pay for my class—only to have her insist on paying for me.  She was dressed up too.  It wasn’t until that moment, when we were standing in a classroom with a dozen other couples, that I realized we were on a date.

Most of the people there probably thought I was a nice grandson taking his grandmother out on the town.  That would have made more sense.  I was able to relax and enjoy the class.  Dancing can be fun even though I suck at it.  In the end, we said goodbye and went our separate ways.  It was a great class and a strange experience.

We kept in touch from time to time in the months that followed.  I had no idea how to react to her.  In the end, I ended up taking on more of a role of an adoptive son/grandson.  I always am glad to see her, and she seems to be thrilled.  I still don’t fully understand what happened between us…but I’m pretty sure that is okay.  I won’t soon forget it.