I don't like the Old Maid label...

When I say I don't like the Old maid label, I mean it. A friend of mine was called a "Mormon Old Maid" just because she's not married yet. *sighs with annoyance*

Maybe I'm being a little oversensitive because I had to put up with that sort of nonsense my first couple of years in the church after being set up on dates and the dates not working out because they were nonmembers and weren't going to change their bad habits to make things work between us. Finally one day in the late summer of 1997, one of my friends at the time finally said that I was going to end up an old spinster because I was too picky.

Well, hello! I have to be picky if I want the kind of marriage that will definitely be time and all eternity material. Believe me; I know what it's like to see two people in an unhappy marriage. Case in point: my parents! My dad's a heavy drinker and smoker and he expects Mom to wait on him hand and foot (and he wants me to do the same!). He's rude, crude, and he's part of the reason I don't really date (I really, REALLY don't want to bring goodly Mormon men home to meet him!). And all he and Mom do is scream at each other and argue. I've tried to get them to stop, but Dad just retorts, "That's how we communicate!"

News flash to my parents: YOU ARE NOT SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR WHAT I NEED IN A GOOD MARRIAGE. I don't want to end up like them, screaming and shouting at my husband.

Maybe it is good I'm waiting a little longer than usual. Because when it's right, it will last. Case in point: my brother and sister-in-law. They're not Mormons, but they are an exemplary example of what a good marriage should be like. And my sister-in-law was in her late thirties when she married my brother.

Yep, I have time and so does my friend. We have plenty of time.