How Old is Too Old?

At 26, I definitely feel older than 25. As my friend Melissa said, I'm now in my late mid-20s - and I'm not a fan of "late" anything.

But my question is, how old is too old for me to date? When I was fresh out of college, 27 seemed beyond me and 30 was certainly ancient. The guy that was a year behind me and still in school was acceptable, but 26 was questionable.

At 24, I reached the point where 30 was no longer so scary and 29 was definitely a good number. But now, as I contemplate tonight's date with No. 9.5 from last week, I'm not sure where the line is anymore.

Did I mention he's 36?

The decade age difference not withstanding, that seems a little too close to 40 for comfort. Let's say things did work out, does that mean I have to start having kids right away? I mean, even if we had our firstborn tomorrow, he'd be 54 by the time the kid went off to college. So much for doting on grandkids together. And what about the male/female life expectancy issue? Does this mean I'll hit my golden years by myself? Or will he be too frail by then to even enjoy them with me?

I suppose on the up side he'd be less likely to leave me later for a younger woman!

I know - I'm several, even hundreds, of steps ahead of myself. As I rattled off these concerns to my roommates the other night,they looked at me with a kind of horror over the new levels of crazy I had reached.

But isn't it better to rule someone out from the beginning than to find out later, once you really like them, there are any number of dealbreakers in the way?

Then again, given that the hottest thing I've got going right now is my lukewarm thing with Charlie, perhaps I can't afford to be so picky.