Please don't worry, I didn't see anything offensive about your comment--I was just trying to shed some light on why what can seem like an immature perspective may be in place even at an age when one might think a woman would have learned better sense. (Did that sentence make sense?)
I definitely agree that da
ting in your early forties can be a lonely and depressing place. There are a lot fewer single people than there were when you were younger. Many of those single people have kids from prior rel
ationship (which may not be what you want, and definitely complicates things).
And for women, there's the fact that a lot of the men your age are actively looking for younger women, particularly if they want to have children themselves. So you find that the guys in their early forties aren't even seeing you on da
ting sites (they've set the filter to 39 and under) and you're getting responses from guys in their mid to late fifties.
If the OP's friend has been on 80 speed dates in two years, 30 of which turned into further contact, and this loser is the best thing that's come out of that - that's pretty depressing, and I can see how that could really skew her perspective.
What she's doing is still really counterproductive, though, unless she genuinely is happier with what she's got than she would be alone.