Finding love after 50. The website for middle aged singles and senior singles, providing information and dating advice for middle age dating and senior dating. This column's topic: Finding Love After 50 and dating after 50 on the Today Show.

Finding Love After 50
on The Today Show

"Forever Young" is the name of a segment featured regularly on NBC-TV's Today Show in New York City. It focuses on dating after 50 and finding love after 50, a concern for older singles who are dating and seeking a mate.

I host a discussion forum on a website called Thirdage.com. Two weeks ago, the Today Show asked the folks at Thirdage if they could gather a group of California singles to discuss dating after 50. Thirdage asked me to put the group together.

Fourteen women and twelve men came to Tutor and Spunky's Deli, which I've owned for 13 years, on Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point, for taping on a Monday night.

People react differently when they know they may be on national television. I didn't want them to be disappointed, so I said: "I can't guarantee that you'll have two minutes of fame, or even thirty seconds. Keep expectations in check because who knows what will be cut? Chances are, you won't become famous. Don't tell your life story, they won't have time to hear it. Be yourself."

And then I poked a little fun: "You have been selected because you are all so cute and smart; if you believe that, why are you still single and dating after 50?"

Twenty three of the 26 invited showed up. A camera and sound crew of five turned the deli's blue and white checkerboard tile floor into an octopus-looking space with wires and cables reaching in every direction. One participant, Victoria, said: "I was thinking how great everyone looked and how hip all of us middle-agers are."

The taping lasted six and a half hours. Christine, the show's producer, was overwhelmed by the quality, class and comments of our Orange County singles. About ten cities were represented.

Dorrie, referring to her boyfriend, who was sitting next to her, said, "He rubs my feet and makes my bed." After the taping, her boyfriend told me he doesn't make her bed (I guess he must rub her feet, though).

Two segments will air on the Today Show, on Monday and Tuesday, May 21 and 22. I know Orange County will be proud of the group. I sure was.

And while they were in south County, the camera crew taped a segment for Friday, May 25, using Coto de Caza residents, Marilyn and Ernie Waterhouse. In December, I wrote a column about them. After a divorce, Marilyn became a flight attendant at age 54, and because of her job, met Ernie, who lived in Florida. He subsequently moved here and married Marilyn.

I was camera shy. Not because I'm modest-most of you know me better than that-but, because I'll be in New York City, appearing live on the Today Show on May 22, talking about my book, "Middle Aged and Dating Again."

Coverage like this reveals that the media is starting to recognize that singles over the age of 45 are becoming a major force in the United States and around the world. In Orange County, there are approximately 500,000 of us, and about 33,000,000 in the United States.

Tune in that week in May, you'll see several nice people representing Orange County.