I'm cool with being single right now, I promise.

I'm 29 and single. This is not secret. Unfortunately, however, it seems to be more of a problem to other people than it is to me...and frankly, nothing could annoy me more. No, not that I'm single--that it bothers other people.

My good friend went to a baby shower over the weekend for a girl that she knew from high school. Just about all the people at the shower were not only married, but pregnant as well. My friend is just like me--29 and single. The mother of one of the shower attendees came up to my friend and said, "Don't you feel left out being the only one not pregnant?" Her response was a firm, "NO."

After hearing her story, I couldn't have felt her pain more. I, myself, have been set up on 3 blind dates in the past 4 months. Everyone who has facilitated the set-ups had nothing but the best of intentions and honestly, they were all really nice guys. But why are other people so worried about whether or not I'm married?

Recently, a married couple I know, ages 23 and 26, asked me when I was going to find a nice guy and get married. The fact that this question came out of the mouths of a people a few years younger than me, got in my crawl quite a bit. After I hesitated to keep the smoke from coming out of my ears, I said, "when I find one that I'm willing to sacrifice what I have now." And that's the truth. I told them that I like my life right now. I like the fact that I can go out with my friends and not have to worry about getting home at a certain time. I like the fact that I could hop in the car and take a road trip without anyone's permission. And until I find someone whom I'm willing to sacrifice all that freedom for, then I'll continue to be single.

I get a lot of comments from older people, mostly women old enough to be my mother, saying things like, "You're so pretty! I just don't understand why you're not married yet." Since I was raised right, I usually just smile and nod and say something like, "I don't know!" and walk off. What I really want to do is throw out a comment like that of Katherine Heigl's character in the movie 27 Dresses. An older lady comes up to her at her younger sister's engagement party (or rehearsal dinner, I can't remember) and says something like, "Does it bother you that your younger sister is getting married before you?" And she comes back with something like, "it did but then I remembered I still get to have hot sex with random strangers..." Of course, she didn't mean it, but I can totally relate to such an insulting and derrogatory comment--especially coming from someone who can't relate to my life AT ALL.

Does this mean I'll pass up any more set-ups? Not necessarily. No pain, no gain, right? But anyone reading this who loves me and thinks they only have my best interest at heart, please ahere to these 2 things:

(And these apply when dealing with any of your single friends--not just me.)

1. 1 single person + 1 single person does not equal "happily ever after." Just because I'm single and he's single doesn't mean we should automatically go out! Do your homework. Find out what kind of person he is, how he dresses, what he likes and dislikes, HOW TALL HE IS, whether or not he has any serious baggage, etc. These are all important factors when I find guys on my own so why would I waste my time on a guy who holds none of my standards just because a friend "thinks" we'll get along?

2. NEVER say anything like, "when are you going to get married?" or "you better hurry up, that clock is ticking!" It's downright RUDE. THE END.