Solitaire

I should've seen it coming. It was inevitable, really, only a matter of time. I just didn't know it would happen so soon.

I was telling my recently-married friend about my experience being hit on by "Fish Guy #2", the guy behind the fish counter at our grocery. The pick-up attempt itself wasn't very interesting, but still worth noting because last summer there was a "Fish Guy #1" at this same grocery store. Fish Guy #1 was somewhat creepy, had dreds, and was a career fisherman. He used to claim he saw me just about every day, driving around or at other stores, which I thought was a little, um...coincidental. I'm told that he's since moved to New Orleans, bought a yacht, and become a pirate. Fish Guy #2 is just a nice, clean-cut gym-rat who wasn't yet aware that I'm a) way older than him, and b) currently dating someone.

My friend and I were pondering the odds that two guys of wildly different personality types (different from one another AND different from me) doing the same job at the same store might look my way. Do creepy guys secretly crave a dash of "responsible" and "average" in their lives? Do I somehow resemble a fish? And then she said it: "Your life is so interesting. I remember being single."

......scraaaaatch!

Yeah, I should've seen it coming. All but a handful of my friends are married, engaged, or picking out rings. And me? I'm pretty sure I'm now "the single friend".

Let me make one thing abundantly clear: I'm 100% happy being single. I am in NO hurry to get married or to have babies. I've never dreamed about my wedding day, I know nothing about diamond cuts, and I can't take care of a house plant.

I'm doing my own thing on my own time, and I like it just fine. But I wonder if this is the start of that awkward period that comedians are always talking about, when married friends start to live vicariously through my exploits, or whisper among friends, "I don't know why she's still single. Poor thing." I always thought that was an exaggeration, or just sour grapes, but...should I buy myself a scarlet 'S'?