If you are wondering why my headline is "And life gets more exiting...," it is one of my favorite quotations from the song "Young At Heart" and, actually, I like the whole expression "And life gets more exciting with each passing day..."

More than anything, I would like to meet a man who is capable of loving me as much as I am capable of loving him. I'll be honest and report that I am about as baffled now as I was when I first started dating as to how this actually occurs and am very thrilled whenever I hear it happening to others. To me, when two people can get together and fall in love, that borders on "miraculous," although I am enough of an optimist to believe that it can happen and it will.

I am not a "male basher" or one of those women who says "there are no good men left." On the contrary, I believe that there are as many good men out there as there are good women looking to love them--it just doesn't seem that they are meeting each other. Let's try to change that, okay?

I am very baggage free. I have always taken equal responsibility for the relationships in which I've been involved and when they ended, I figure part of it had to be my fault, too. As I mentioned, the recipe for "love" seems to include a bit of this and a bit of that and, if the two people involved can't improvise on finding the missing ingredients, it fails. It would be great to meet a man who is as curious as I am to find whatever we need to make "us" successful.

I am still working and, throughout the year, travel for work. I have always lamented to my friends that I have wasted so many beautiful hotel rooms and wonderful locations by being alone and it would be great to think that a future lover/significant other would be willing to, occasionally, travel with me. I also miss the fun and joy of traveling with someone I love and it would be great to share that kind of experience, especially the ultimate in romantic environments--a cruise or crossing.

The man who could win my heart is part sophisticate, part little boy (meaning still very enthusiastic about life and living--someone, for example, who would be willing to watch meteor showers, eclipses and rising full moons over the ocean or come walking with me before the sun rises or who loves getting up early to start a trip to nowhere!), not jaded by past experiences, but hopeful for the future. It would be great if he were intelligent, charming, very articulate, sensual/sexual, ethical, and settled in his chosen profession or happily retired. It would be wonderful if he shared my very liberal politics. If you are not of the same religion, that is okay, but please have some understanding of and respect for the Jewish faith, as I will have of your faith.

This may sound harsh, but the man in my life needs to have a good strong voice to which I love to listen--a voice that can be exciting to hear from a distance over a phone, on a message left when I'm not here or next to me in bed.

In the "I am looking for" choice, I chose "long-term." Long-term sounds good, solid and what we both deserve. Let's add to that the words: satisfying, happy, fulfilling and I think that allows for the best of everything. That would be my hope for a relationship. It would also be great if you have interests that I could learn to share as you could share mine with me, or, at least, interests that we can share when we are together, even if we pursue them separately.

Am very much looking forward to meeting you.

An ideal first date for me is meeting for coffee, lunch or dinner and having an opportunity to talk and get to know each other. If there is a chance for a stroll near the water, all the better.