Call it an adage or a mantra or the number one rule about real estate value.

Location, location, location.

I wonder, does that also apply to finding new love?

Take out your maps because we're exploring on this episode of Dating While Gray,

the grownups guide to love, sex, and relationships.

I'm Laura Sassie.

Ugh, the ocean.

It's the place to clear my head, lose myself in a novel, get my creative juices flowing.

I'm really lucky. I own a small vacation house in a beach neighborhood.

It takes maybe three minutes to stroll from the top of my driveway to the community walkway.

And that leads to the wide sandy shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

I've been renting out my house now for over 20 years, but lately I've been wondering what it

would be like to live in it full time. It's a lot of fun to be here in the off season with family

and friends. It's also comfortable on my own. It feels remote, but when you want a little action,

it's close enough. A three and a half mile drive takes me past a couple of grocery stores,

little shops, a movie theater, and my favorite bistro and martini bar. As enjoyable and therapeutic

as time at the beach is, I do have concerns about the older

dating pool. The full-time population is about 3,800 people, who knows how many might be my

definition of age-appropriate and available. The bigger the pool, the more turbulence there is, I think.

The deeper the water, you have to dig deeper.

That's Lori, a longtime close friend of one of my sisters.

She's a very positive person, and she also knows how much I love idioms and metaphors.

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