The Dreaded Question.

I'm sure we Singletons have all heard it from time to time. Bridget Jones's Diary captures it best. The dreaded question: "How's your love life?"

Bridget Jones simply smiled through gritted teeth. Don't you wish sometimes you could just smile at the question? I know I do.

I'll admit. I hate being nearly 39 and single. It's not where I saw my life going, but it is where it is and there's precious little I can do about it.

I tried the whole Bridget Jones diary keeping, but that doesn't work. Apparently, keeping a diary to get guys only works in movies. If it didn't, I'd have guys coming out of the woodworks. See, I've kept a diary of some sort over the years. They've not all been labled with the very apparent DIARY across the front. Some are very simple spiral bound notebooks. And now, it's this fascinating template called THE INTERNET and the strange word of Blogging.

It seems like, even in the midst of this new era of dating, if you can't locate someone on line, you're doomed to a life of dreaded spinsterhood.

(Side question: Why are women Spinsters and men Bachelors? Aren't they really the same thing? Why is it more acceptable for a man to be my age and still single than it is for me to be my age and single?)

But, back to the dreaded question of How's your love life? I get asked this a lot. Or at least I used to. I have found that people don't know how to respond when I look them in the eye and tell them it's going great.

Then, there's the next dreaded question: When are YOU getting married? Again, people look stunned I tell them I'm getting married when Tim Tebow realizes that he's hopelessly, devotedly, and desparately in love with me.

Kind of ends the questioning right there since we all know what the next question is.

I don't know (or remember) where I heard (or saw) this, but there was a suggestion somewhere that when an older person asks you (at a wedding) when it's your turn, ask them at the next funeral you both attend, when it's their turn.

Again, a question killer.

But, here's the truth. I may not always enjoy being single. After all, I can't blame the husband or kids for the mess in the kitchen. I have to always pay the bills myself. I have no one to turn to when I need a good shoulder to cry on or to calm me when I have a nightmare.

In all that, I'm happy with my life. I'm sorry that not everyone can understand that. Do I wish I was married? Absolutely. But then, I couldn't go and do some of the things I get to go and do without checking in. Not that checking in is mandatory in a marriage. It's simply the nice thing to do.

But, I have a freedom that my married friends don't.

Then again, they have what I don't: Love.

But, fear not, Singletons, for we are overcoming. At least I hope so.