I've been around a bit more than you have- in terms of partners and just number of years lived! I got married at 23 to my first and only boyfriend. We were really great friends and I saw myself having kids with him. At age 31, I divorced him- having had 3 kids with him. Our kids are wonderful. I still think that in terms of whom I should've had kids with he was it! It does seem like I got married just to have kids with him, but that isn't the case. We still work on kid issues very well together. (He's remarrying in 3 days!! ) After we got divorced, I dated quite a bit for a couple years. Now, I've been in a long-term relationship- nearly 3 years. I gotta tell ya- dating around isn't all it is cracked up to be. Dating around- as a female- did a few things for me: it showed me what I can deal with in a man and what I can't. It showed me that while men are pretty much alike in bed, they're pretty different too! (lol) That is, I learned that sex is sex is sex and its chemistry between you mentally, emotionally and physically that matters. Physically definitely matters- but it happens as a consequence of the others.... I look at my BF and think "He's not my type" but I also look at him and go "He's so cute!!" None of which has ANYthing to do with what I'm thinking when we're having sex and its REALLY good! Dating around was a shallow experience. I was basically using men. And one day I looked at one of them, after he'd just said "That was the best ever!" and I thought "I could collect those for the back of my 'book'"- quotes, that is. And that's when I realized that collecting quotes of how "good" I was wasn't really what I wanted. I had a HOT body that every guy wanted, yet I wasn't happy.

Chew on that a bit! (BTW, I'm 36.)