Dating Support Network

I had a friend who was sick over her single status in her late 30s. I mean, literally, sick. We were walking down the street one day casually, looking in the shop windows at dresses we couldn’t afford. Our conversations started with how bored we were with our wardrobes, then how bored we were with our jobs, and finally, how bored we were with our love lives. After a few lamentations of “why are there no good men out there,” my friend stopped, looked at me with big crazy eyes and screamed through her clenched teeth, “I JUST WANT TO BE MARRIED!” And then she threw up in the trashcan on the corner.

I’d never seen anything like it. Truth be told, she was prone to melodrama, but this was something very different. I felt sympathy for her because I was all too familiar with dating scene pain, but at the same time I couldn’t support her behavior. She was absolutely too needy. The guys she dated all ran for the hills. They could smell her desperation like the sour milk they left in the fridge for too long. The irony is, the more desperate you become, the more you reduce your chances of finding the person you’re supposed to be with.

It was true. All she did want was to be married. And evidently it didn’t matter to whom.

I understand the desire to call someone your own ‘til death do you part, but if you’re going to live your whole life bound to this one person, shouldn’t you at least like him just a little? Does the ring on the finger trump the actual guy sleeping in your bed? Unfortunately for many gals the answer is yes. The fear of spinsterhood is extremely powerful. Enough to make you throw up in public in the middle of the day.

What do you think DSN? Is being married that important in this day and age?