Grandma Gail and Kim meet with Joan Vassos, the current Golden Bachelorette on ABC. With the season almost coming to an end, Joan shares her experience finding love later in life. From the highs and lows of dating in the spotlight to navigating relationships with confidence and grace, Joan shares her journey of rediscovering love and companionship after the passing of her husband. Kim and Gail dive into what dating in today’s world means for people of all ages, with plenty of laughs and wisdom along the way. Whether you’re a seasoned dater or just looking for advice on making the right connections, this episode has something for everyone! Follow @joanvassos and @excusemygrandma
Chapter 1: Who is Joan Vassos and what is her journey?
Welcome back to another episode of Excuse My Grandma. It's Kim and my co-host Grandma Gail. And today we're so excited about our guest Joan Vasos from The Golden Bachelorette. Joan has captured our hearts on this season of the show so far and her journey to find love later in life is so relatable to so many people.
So we're going to chat to her about the whole groundbreaking season and her journey and of course her thoughts on finding love at any age. So Joan is joining us virtually. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you for having me. I'm excited.
Have you been watching yourself? And is it as you expected when you were going through the filming process?
So I'm kind of like watching myself, but I feel like I know what I did. I'm actually really enjoying being able to watch the season because I see the guys interaction, which I don't see because they're like in the mansion and I don't really see them together unless we're on a group date. So that's the part that is like really exciting and fun for me to watch.
Like, you know, I heard from them like how much they bonded and how it was a kind of like therapy for them and what good friends they become. But I'm finally like actually getting to see the interaction.
It must be a little difficult because, you know, you're certainly younger than I, but you've had a prior life and a happy marriage and you have a family. So is this a different kind of finding a relationship? You know you're not having children, I don't think. You're trying to go into the golden years with someone you're having fun with. Is it strange to do? I mean, how difficult is it?
Because I have a lot of friends going through it now.
It's very different. So it's certainly very different from the first process when I found John or when I was looking for a husband because I was looking for somebody to start a family with and to start a life with and build your first house and do all those things. And now I have a life. I've built it already. I like it. And I want to be with somebody who likes their life.
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Chapter 2: What challenges does Joan face in dating after loss?
And so do they actually have to stay together in those rooms or is that like a bit?
No, no, no, no. We all sleep together.
That's so hard.
It's hilarious. And it's such a surprise. And now it's kind of out there in the world that this is how it works in that mansion. And I was in a room with three other people. I was on a top bunk. And it's like, I was the youngest in the room. I was the youngest in the mansion. So I was the youngest in the room. So I got the top bunk. Right.
You could get up there.
Yeah. It had a ladder, but I have this thing that when I wear high heels for like too many hours in a day, I get leg cramps. And so I'd be in the middle of the night jumping up and I would be in the top bunk and I'm trying to stand up and actually that ceilings are really high. So I could stand up in the top bunk and trying to get like cramp out of my foot and my leg.
And I remember like more than one time thinking, this is how I die. I'm going to die with like my head cracked open. And I was like, this is how I go.
Very few people die in a bunk bed.
You could be the first.
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Chapter 3: How does dating change for older adults?
Yeah, love that. Okay, last one. Do men ever really feel ready or old enough to have kids? 29-year-old says he wants more time.
Well, you know, what I feel about your generation is constantly everybody needs more time. I mean, if you're in love with your spouse, I'm gathering they're married, and they're financially able to have a family, I think a lot of it really in this day and age, you have to be able to provide. And if the two of you together can provide, there should be no reason.
Some people are not emotionally ready, and they're smart to say that to their spouse. But I think that should be also discussed before you get married. You know, are children coming along quickly? Because it's not like when we got married at 20 or 18, 19, 20, we knew we were going to have children. That was part of the plan. We didn't have an IUD. No, it wasn't even that. That was the way...
things worked in our world, in America or wherever we were. So you had children, you had a family, and you managed. But now, because both partners are usually working, it could be a little more difficult. And I think it has to be discussed prior to getting married.
I agree. Definitely. The discussion prior to getting married is really, really important these days, though. I don't feel like 29 is very old. I think people are having kids much later in life. And, um, but the flip side to that is that, you know, you don't want to have them too late. Kids require a lot of energy.
And if you want to have more than one, you don't want to start too late or they end up with really old. Like you don't want to be in your forties and sending them to kindergarten. Um, it requires energy. It requires a lot of attention. Um, But I do think that you don't want to rush it. If you don't think you're ready, you know, it's going to change your life. It's going to be life changing.
And if you're not ready, then, you know, you need to have that discussion. But I think it's only fair if you're not ready and your spouse is to actually kind of put a timeline to it, because maybe you're 29 is never going to feel ready. And you need to have that conversation because maybe they're not the right person for you.
Those things would really be discussed first.
Yeah, agreed. Okay, we're going to end the episode with a game. Grandma Gail's old-fashioned dating quiz. So this is rapid fire. And we're going to see if Joan is more traditional or modern when it comes to finding love. Okay, the first one is, would you rather receive a call or a text if it's just to say hi from your partner?
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