Having been married 41+ years... Not in any particular order.
1) Commitment. Some of those years were not so great. But we were committed to making it work and not giving up. We were always glad we got past whatever it was and our marriage was stronger for having gone through that.
2) Agreement on the deal breakers, and both partners making a sincere effort to not succumb to those things. Deal breakers can be whatever the couple agrees to. Violence, drug or alcohol abuse, criminal acts, infidelity...
3) Laughter
4) Intimacy
5) Treat each other with respect and courtesy
6) Apologize
7) Shared goals and values
8) Communicate
9) Putting up with each other's **** because we're all flawed

I'm sure there are more.

Profile very good. Clear pics. Friendly opening, not that player "hey baby" BS. Plenty of well rounded interests. Your description sounds like someone I would want to know if you were my demographic. Good luck to you.

Beats me. I've realized I can't tell if they're flirting. A few times I have figured out later "Oh, that wasn't just friendly conversation. Damn, missed the signals".

I didn't get to you fast enough and then your comment was gone. You made some points I thought were good. And I made some tweaks. Thanks for your input.

Thanks. It's tough to figure out the balance. I was afraid of wrong signals but am open to sex. If I eliminate that would men think that casual means I'm not? Is the sex part what would scare you off?
I do want to be clear about not serious. Not looking to attach myself to anyone so quickly after a long marriage.

Profile is good. Good pics. One seems a duplicate. You're a nice looking young man. Your description of yourself and what you're seeking is good. Could you add activities that may be more suited to dating? Maybe there are just too few women on this site from your corner of the world.

I started on this site giving the courtesy of replying that I'm not interested. Eventually I recognized that too many messages were from men who seemed to send a canned message to any female whose pic they liked, without reading profile. So I stopped bothering to send reply to idiots who can't read. Write something that includes the woman's name and shows that you have read her profile. Don't bother those who are too far from a match. Give her a reason to respond.

I'm leaving distance filter off for now. I have come across a few men who are not full of ****, and I'm willing to have friendly chats with them. But I've restricted the youngsters, and married men.
Wish I could restrict men who are looking for marriage. And shirtless profiles. Geez, guys. Put your clothes on.

Thank for M2 tip. That should help. And appreciate knowing profile is ok. Maybe somewhere out there is the right man for now.

Can I do better? I'm getting messages from men who seem to be sending out canned "hey baby" nonsense. Do people even look at a profile before messaging?

How did you get so brilliant? Yes, what important to us that we've been deprived of.
And that is different things to different women at different times of our lives. Some of us might get really lucky and meet a person who is a good fit at the right time.