I'm wondering if other GNers have an answer to this fairly light-hearted conundrum.
Briefly, I am in a relationship with a man of my own age - early 70s. We have been friends for a couple of years and the friendship deepened into love. We are as sure as two humans can be that this is a lifetime partnership, we're both in it for keeps. There are no plans to marry and we don't live together - a situation which is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future. We are both single, having been widowed after long and happy marriages. Our grown up children and other close relations are happy that we are now "an item".
What is causing us to wrack our brains is, how do we refer to each other when talking to other people?
At our age, saying my boyfriend/girlfriend sounds ridiculous!
Gentleman friend/lady friend sounds pompous and twee
Partner sounds as if we're running a chartered accountancy practice together.
Friend isn't emphatic enough; I have any number of friends but I don't go to bed with them
Lover is a bit too blunt and direct and may upset some people
Other 'alf/bidie-in imply living together which we aren't
We could call each other my pro-friend/my bitch or say we are puffbears but this might be culturally inappropriate
My bloke/my bird; my fella/my woman - I can't get comfortable with these, either.
Obviously, when talking to people who know us, we use names; the difficulty arises when making reference to each other with new/casual acquaintances.
We can't be the only people to have encountered this terminological absence so is there a word or words out there to fit the situation? Or can anyone make up something suitable which doesn't sound lewd or rude but makes the relationship clear?
All suggestions welcomed!
