I think married people act like weirdos around single people. At the fireside last night, I came in and sat at the back of the chapel so that I would be able to monitor the attendance. There was no one else sitting on the entire row, so I sat right in the middle. By the time they opened up the overflow I couldn't see another empty seat anywhere around me, except for the one to my right, and the one to my left. It really made me feel a little odd to be sitting there in a crammed chapel with empty seats on both sides, as though I have leprosy or something. I was laughing about it over the phone with a friend on my way home. She attends a family ward, and she said that it's like that for her at church every week. She pointed out that all week long she's fine with being single, but you walk into a family ward alone, and suddenly you're a freak show. It's been a long time since I went to church with married people, so I forgot how they can be oddly stand-offish. Still, I'd rather that than the married person who talks to me with a tony of pity. I have another friend who went home to Utah for a family reunion and came back and told me "I don't mind being single, but I cannot endure the pity of married people. They talk to me like they just know that my life is horrible and empty." It cracked me up, but only because there's some truth to it.
I'm positive that some married person is going to come read this and conclude that I'm just a bitter single person. I'm okay with that I guess. I'm pretty happy with my life, and I'm not going to sit around and fret about how someone else feels about it. A friend of mine tried to badger me into admitting that I feel bitter the other day. He came and sat down next to me at church, confessed that he is bitter, and then asserted that most single people are, and that includes me. He says that I just haven't embraced it yet, but that it would be better if I just admit it now. Then he started pelting me with questions like "you don't feel at all like you've been short changed?" "You don't feel at all bitter?" Followed with "I don't believe you, I think you're just not willing to admit it yet. You will in a few years though." People fascinate me.
2 comments:
I don't think ALL married people act like weirdos around single people. I know for a fact Haws and I would have sat down right next to you. Maybe this comes from being in the "singles scene" for quite some time that most of are friends are from that pool of people. Being single is not a disease. I always thought of it more as an "opportunity"... although I have to say, I would not trade my married life to go back.
Well I would certainly hope so. We're practically family, and if it ever comes down to married family not wanting to sit next to me...well then it might be time to look into other possible factors.
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