We’ve been together for 2.5 years now and have conversations about our future all the time! We have the same goals for this relationship and talk about our future in what I consider to be a very realistic way.

Just me as far as I am aware

At this point, none really. We’ve been dating for a long time and I feel totally comfortable with us.

But earlier in the relationship I definitely worried sometimes about the way people would judge us and I did used to let it bother me. But now I don’t care.

I was his dog-walker. So I saw him a couple times a week and we would chat. Chatting turned to flirting and flirting turned to dating :)

Raptors!!!

He does. I know them well and they all have a lovely family

Great question!

The whole “you guys don’t have shared experience” argument never really made sense to me. In the early stages of dating anyone, my age or not, I’m genuinely more excited and emotionally attached to learning new things about a person and gaining a new interest from them, far moreso than realizing we have shared experiences from before we met. He likes a bunch of music I’d never heard before. I’ve seen a bunch of tv shows he now loves. I like learning about new things and so does he.

And there is stuff we did both already love! We both love being outside on a nice day enjoying the breeze. We’re both dog people. We both crave the same food. So all that and more combined with new stuff we learn from each other has made for wonderful experiences.

The emotional intelligence thing I’m not really sure how to answer unfortunately. It’s not something I’ve thought about or that we’ve discussed. But it’s never felt like something that’s been an issue for us.

Activity planning is honestly the same as it would be in a relationship with anyone else! We love having time to do things together. I have my friends and he has his, and we both get along with each other’s social groups. Sometimes I take him to places that aren’t his speed, sometimes he does the same to me. But generally we make an active attempt to do things and go places we’ll both enjoy.

I will hopefully continue to love and support him. A lot of people have already said to me the “easy for you to say now” thing in response. And it is easy for me to say now to be fair. But it is genuinely how I feel. Deteriorating health is something every couple has to deal with because we’re all people. And it happens at different stages in everyone’s life. Even if he was my age and was diagnosed with something terminal I still would want to be there for him.

Yes, I am female and my partner is male. I’m 22, he’s 55. Sometimes the energy level can be a bit of challenge. But he’s often very energetic for his age and I can definitely be more mellow sometimes. But there is definitely a difference, yes.