An Interesting Observation at the Senior Center

South Dakota as you know is not the hotbed of swing or salsa.

It's not really the hot bed of anything unless it's late July and the Sturgis rally is going on.

So to find dancing you need to take what you can get and the local senior center actually has some really great dancing. Obviously when I attend me and my friends are the youngest people there. But something just dawned on me while I was showering this morning, plotting my weekend.

"The old ladies at the senior center like it when men are charming."

This may not seem to be an obvious epiphany, but ask yourself the question:

"In various social circumstances, who has been more receptive to your charms or innocent flirtations? 18-45 year old women or women of the WWII generation?"

Admittedly, I acknowledge that old grandma Tilly doesn't mind the occasional harmless flirtation from a young man. Matter of fact, they probably welcome it. When asking the old women to dance I usually say something stupid like:

"Don't tell my girlfriend"

Or

"Your husband isn't going to kick my ass is he?"

They eat it up.

But beyond that, what I observed is it's almost more natural and I feel much more at home dispensing the occasional bits and bytes of charm to a woman who is 82 than a woman who is 28. And the reason why I contend or theorize is the woman who is 82, age aside, was brought up in a generation where she appreciate the occasional bit of charm or flirtation from men. She KNEW it wasn't a ploy to get her into the sack, it was just an innocent young guy, yapping his gums, making funny ha ha's, trying to cajole a laugh.

You can't say that about a 28 year old woman. You pull off any kind of "charm" and they think you're scamming on them. You try to say something witty, with purely humorous intent, they immediately think you're hitting on them and they tighten up.

Of course, if the girl is enamored with you, you can say anything and they'll laugh.

"My dachshund is flying F-15's over Mars"

*giggle giggle* "Oh, you're so funny Captain!"

But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a general social setting, you walk up to a group of women, start chatting, which group do you think is going to be more receptive to your frivolous flirtations, not because of age, but because of upbringing?

Alas, tonight I get to go to the Senior Center again. And I'm sure I'll see Tilly and Gertrude there. And I'm sure they'll not turn me down for dances either. But what is going to be pleasant, is that when we sit down at the table or we converse, I'll feel very free and at home to make the occasional compliment or when introducing them to others, saying:

"Ah! Sophia Loren, I'd like to introduce you to Audrey Hephurn. Audrey, this is Sophia."

They eat it up.