A street performer in Jackson Square offered to pay me to stay and laugh, because my natural appreciation was drawing such a crowd. My laughter is whole-hearted, and generally draws in everyone for miles around. It's important to me to be happy and relaxed, and for those around me to enjoy themselves, too.

Sooo...Hello, World!! Looking for a mature man, late 40's to early 60's. Even though my son says I'm an "uber-tomboy", I'm girly enough to want to be in love. Yeah, baby!!! Ooops!! I must have seen Austin Powers too many times.

I have a Master's degree in Ed Psych, and a residence in Southern Illinois, close to St. Louis. My years in 4-H, ROTC, the Air Force, and Boy Scouting promoted a love for the outdoors. Growing up on a farm also taught respect for the woods, waters, animals, trees, and flowers. I like to hike, camp, canoe.

Living in half a dozen states gave me the chance to experience amazing gallery openings, art shows, and art museums. There was the Goya show of Spanish civil war lithographs seen in Virginia, three generations of Wyatts's work displayed in Tennessee, and the artifacts of King Tut viewed in Texas.

I like men who enjoy other people as their basic nature, who like doing things with a group. Life is too short to be stressed, so men who are at peace with themselves and the world, and who have a positive mindset are the ones who draw me in. I'm really not about appearance or image or material things...I'm looking for character and honesty and an easy-going disposition.

I have a 16 year old son, who lives with me. I have no desire to have any more children, but I wouldn't hesitate to become involved with a single father, even if his children were younger. That is the only reason I'm "open" on the question of children.

About my headline: It comes from a favorite Robert Frost poem, "The Road Not Taken". The poem appears below, at the bottom of this narrative. In context, it explains a lot about how I've lived.


The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

It's nice to be able to talk, and to hear each other well. I like coffee dates, or concerts-in-the-park, or a sundae at a Baskin-Robbins, or paddleboating on the lake. Movies or bowling in the winter. Hiking or outdoor cafes in good weather.