Thank God I’m a single gal

I love those moments when you realize that being single and fabulous is the best place for you.

I had two such moments in the last two days. Combined they make me so happy with my single life that I’m not at all distraught by the fact that there is no warm, manly body in my bed right now. Hell, I’m so tickled that I enjoy sprawling out across the cool sheets and not making room for anyone else.

Happy to be single!

My joyful mood is brought to you by two girls I went to high school with.

The first I spotted today in a local grocery store. Let me preface this story by saying I’m not proud of the happiness it brought me. But I did get a lift out of it, as evil as it sounds.

OK, here goes.

 I knew this girl had given birth to her first child recently but seeing her was a shock. She was huge, especially when compared in my mind’s eye to the skinny, shapely, blonde cheerleader I remembered. She was easily 60 pounds overweight – butt fat, thigh fat, tummy fat, arm fat, back fat. It was startling.

I felt smug. Not just a little smug, either.

Yes, she was married with a baby. And I know it must be so hard to lose the pregnancy weight. But I was skinny. And cute. The clerks at the grocery store were flirting with me and I looked hot in my jeans. I felt awfully good about being single and baby-free.

The second instance was less evil. I had lunch with a friend of mine who got married right after college. She’s still charting her career while her husband has settled in with a corporation and a track. She’s the kind of adventurous girl who I could see living abroad and pursuing her passion to help people all over the world. We were talking about our recent trips to different corners of the globe. We had an exciting, inspiring conversation.

Carried away, I asked, “Have you ever thought about working abroad?”

Her face fell, just a little. She said she’d love to, but her husband liked being close to home. She didn’t sound resentful or too disappointed. It was a fact, something she’d ingested and accepted and that didn’t cause her to lose any sleep at night. That life path was likely cut off and that was OK with her.

I didn’t pity her. But I did thank God I’m not married right now. Why? Because unlike my friend, I haven’t found a man worth compromising for. Yet. If I were in her position now, I’d be deeply resentful. By comparison my life feels free and open. It reminded me that the pursuit of coupledom is not the be-all, end-all. It’s just one possible happy ending.

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