I sat down with my grandparents to talk about dating

Grandparents. They are like our parents, only better. They give us all the food we want, the toys our parents didn’t want us to have, and they think we are the greatest thing since sliced bread. What they don’t know is that they are the greatest things since slice bread. Everyone thinks that they have the greatest parents in the world, but they are wrong. I have the greatest grandparents in the world.

These are my grandparents, Irene and Alvin. They have been married for 55 years, and are still as happy as can be. Irene attended college with Alvin’s sister, and began writing to Alvin while he was stationed in Alaska for the army. They did not meet until after writing for a year, and by the time he got home, they had already decided to get married. They planned their entire wedding during his one month on leave, then got married three weeks after his next six months tour. Could that get anymore romantic? I can’t even get a guy to text me back.

As a single woman, I wanted to see how much things had changed since they were in the dating world. So with the smell of my grandmother’s meatloaf wafting through the house, I sat them both down to chat.

When you two were dating, what the dating scene like?

Irene: “I was at college, and we went to frat parties and met people that way. If my friend had a boyfriend, I would date his friend. Girls didn’t ask guys out. You would wait for a call to see if they would ask you out again.”

Alvin: “I was in the army, so I didn’t do much dating. Before the army, I would date within my group of friends. It was never a stranger.”

What do you think has changed in the dating world since you two were dating?

Irene: “Everything”

Alvin: “A lot more casual dating”

Irene: “Lot more dating through social media. The guy isn’t expected to pay, and he isn’t expected to come pick you up at your house or meet your parents on the first date.”

What are your feelings on how much the dating world has changed?

Irene: “People don’t get to know people as well as when we were dating. They judge solely on looks now.”

Alvin: “There is no casual interaction before a date.”

Irene: “Sex is expected on the first date. People didn’t live together before marriage [when we were dating]. ”

Alvin: “[When we were dating] sex before marriage happened, but it was unusual for us. Marriage is a commitment. Playing house is not the same as committing to someone.”

Okay, so I’m going to give you a few terms, and I want your opinion on them. What do you think a fuckboy is?

Irene: “Never heard of it.”

Alvin: “I think that’s terrible.”

Irene: “I think he has a sense of entitlement. He has poor character, and is probably spoiled.”

What do you think of when you hear the word hookup?

Irene: “I thought it was when two people get together.”

Alvin: “Usually to have sex. You can’t consider it a date.”

What do you think of ghosting?

Alvin: “I never did that.”

Irene: “It used to happen back then. When they wouldn’t call. Women never had any power.”

Alvin: “This all probably happened [when we were dating], we just never had labels for it.”

Why do you think I’m still single?

Alvin: “Because you’re not old enough to be married.”

Irene: “You’re at a small school, so you don’t have a lot of candidates. You don’t have a lot of people I could see you hooking up with.”

Alvin: “You can’t trust all of these profiles. He could be a shlub sitting in his basement. You’re pool of potential dates is almost non-existent.”

What are your thoughts of young people now a days just wanting to hook up and not settle down?

Alvin: “It’s an individual’s choice. Sometimes it’s shows a lack of commitment.”

Irene: “I think it’s nice to have a companion of the opposite sex. I don’t think a career should stop someone from committing.”

What was life like for women back when you two first started dating/were first married?

Irene: “We were more focused on getting married. We had the M R S degree, but it was hard to meet people after college. I didn’t really care about whether or not the guy was Jewish, though. That mattered more to my mother.”

What are your thoughts on the modern feminist movement? And how everything is mostly done on social media and online?

Alvin: “Just like everything else now, it’s less people to people, and I think that’s more impersonal. People are hiding behind their computers.”