I once thought I'd fallen in love with dating adorable lawyer who started chatting with me while we waited at a crosswalk in Manhattan. I felt an immediate spark, and after we exchanged numbers, we planned our first date without ever bringing up our ages. Then he excused himself to the go to the bathroom while I sat old what our relationship age gap meant: How he want to move faster in a relationship? Would he be thinking about children already?

Would he be appalled by my tiny studio apartment, which I could barely afford? We continued to date until, eventually, our lifestyles proved drastically different. His career and financial situations were a far cry from mine, and the idea of things getting serious felt rushed and scary to me. So I let our connection slip away, allowing my concern over our age difference to overshadow our passion. It was ultimately the old call, I felt, and experts seem to agree.

The truth is that age is not just this web page number, says Seth Meyers, Ph. A relationship age gap bigger than 10 years often comes with its own set of issues.

Couples with a big age difference need to think things through or risk finding themselves at conflicting stages for their relationship.

But at the same time, I still keep an open mind—a big age gap doesn't have to be a too. Instead, be realistic about what you want in someone, not what you want from their age. And we should all be more open-minded.

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How well does the rule reflect scientific evidence for age preferences?

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