I (22M) am currently dating a (27F). We just celebrated our 5-year anniversary.
We started dating when I was 17 and she was 23 (legal where I live). However, this is usually considered a pretty big red flag due to the notion that people at these ages are typically at different stages of life. My scenario was pretty unusual.
We met when I was hanging out with a friend around my age who had an older brother that she was friends with(I mention this to bring light to the fact that neither of us seeked out the age gap, and due to my circumstances she initially didnt realize I was as young as I was). The unusual part is that at 17, I was living in my own apartment, paying half my living expenses (my parents covered the other half since I was still in high school). All my schooling was online due to COVID, which allowed me to work a full-time job. So, I was borderline fully independent.
She, however, didn’t have a driver’s license, was living with her parents, homeschooled, and very sheltered. So when we started dating, I would actually argue that in some ways I was more of an adult. I realize that emotional maturity and independence can be separate.
Do you think with context that this is acceptable or still weird?
Curious to get an outside perspective on this in regards to typical age gap judgment.
TL;DR: I (22M) have been with my girlfriend (27F) for 5 years. We started dating when I was 17 and she was 23. I was living on my own, working full-time, and pretty independent at the time, while she was sheltered and living with her parents. Given the context, does this change how you view the age gap, or is it still weird?
Comments
Why are you suddenly concerned about this age gap after 5 years?
Not sure why you’re asking this now. From what you say it doesn’t sound odd. But the more important question is, how are things now? Because the older you get, the less a five-year age gap matters.
I’m trying to read tea leaves here, but wondering if you raise this question because you feel like you missed out on dating around when you were 18 or 20 like most people do. But that’s out of left field, maybe it has nothing to do with where you are.
I started dating a 23 year old at 16 which is also legal where I am, like. Looking back on it, it was little weird but it’s not the end of the world. We dated for 10 years and broke up cause we fought all the time the last 2 years. Natural conclusion