The older you get, the more your immediate priorities change when it comes to relationships.
I think that when I was younger, I think my biggest concern was how cute the boy was and how cute we could look together.
I didn’t really think about compatibility or sharing life responsibilities – but I also didn’t know what those were yet. I thought life would be easy and I assumed that everything would just work itself out if we loved each other enough. It turns out, nope. Love is a lot more complicated than attraction and expectation. I’ve learned this the hard way. In fact, at this point, I’m so jaded when it comes to relationships that I am way more interested in practical matters than attraction. When I start dating someone, these days I would rather know about their financial management, money handling skills, and interest in household appliances than their favorite places to eat. Recently, I started seeing somebody new and started immediately talking about his philosophy behind HVAC equipment. I knew it was weird when I inquired if he had a smart thermostat or an old-school dial thermostat… But I wanted to know if he had an indoor air temperature control plan already programmed at his house. I was just feeling curious if he regularly called out an HVAC company to inspect and professionally service his central heating and cooling system. I really needed to know how he felt about energy efficiency, energy star ratings, and carefully monitoring our daily heating and cooling equipment usage. At the end of the first date, I needed to know if we share HVAC philosophies so we could possibly share a comfortable home. But he never called me again.