Role model for singlehood???

I love my students. Sometimes I love the funny things they say just as much! On Friday I had a little girl in my class (we'll call her "Katie") cock her head to the side and ask, "Miss Ruwe, are you single?"
"Single?" I asked. "What do you mean, Katie?"
"I mean, are you single?"
I just laughed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, never mind...." she sighed as she got back to work. I simply walked away, laughing under my breath about the conversation I had just had.

A few minutes later I heard Katie talking with her peers at her table. "When I grow up, I want to be single like Miss Ruwe."

Well, at least I could be a role model for my girls. Moral of the story : it's okay to be single. And sometimes, it's pretty great.

I'm not saying that I am actually SINGLE single. Of course I have my wonderful boyfriend who makes me very NOT-single. But I am one of only two first grade teachers who is not engaged and has never been married. The only other person in my "boat" is fresh out of college and in her first year of teaching. Last year I was the only person. I have to admit that this bothered me. It killed me every time someone got engaged, married, or had a baby. You have to understand that they make it really bad at my school - they post all these "updates" on our electronic bulletin board. With each new "update" I was made to feel like I was a minority for not being "settled." What was wrong with me?!

I have learned to be content with my "singlehood." So what if I am not engaged or married yet? I would rather be picky and know what I want than end up in a failed marriage that I rushed into just to check it off my "To Do" list. I am not saying that the people I know who are married or engaged did this! But I think I just may have. I was willing to "settle" for less-than-perfect just to join "Club Wed." Not anymore. I am picky. I want to make sure that the guy I marry is perfect. Not "perfect" perfect, because let's face it...no one is. But perfect for me. And if it takes me years and years to get to that, so be it.

And you know what? I like my life right now. I like living alone (who would have thought, right?!). I like being picky. I like the fact that Sadie, my yellow lab, is my only "child" right now (though I sometimes think a real child might be easier to raise!). I like knowing that I deserve the best, and that one day it WILL be my turn to "settle down" with someone without having to "settle."

And in the process, I am teaching my students a lesson that goes beyond the content areas. I am teaching them that it is perfectly okay to be twenty-five and "single." That you don't need a man to make you happy. That you need to be complete alone before anyone else comes along. And that being single can actually be "cool!"

I am grateful for...
1.) Living alone.
2.) Sadie.
3.) The feeling of being content and living in the present.