The Single Woman’s Dash of Sass: Single After 30 – So What?

Quote of the Day:

“I don’t see love as something that if you don’t get it by the time you’re thirty, you cross it off the list.” ~Ethel Person

The Single Woman Says:

I was watching the news recently and I paused on one of my favorite morning shows, Good Morning America, just long enough to hear Robin Roberts promo the next story, “The Sooner the Better,” with the tagline “New studies show that 90% of women’s eggs are gone by age 30.” Since I had to assume she wasn’t referring to the kind of eggs you make an omelet with, I immediately grabbed the remote and flipped off the TV before some know-it-all “expert” could take to the screen with his message of gloom and doom and perform his last rites on my eggs.

When did being single after age 30 become a warzone of warnings and dangers to avoid?

“You better get married soon, or you’ll be an old maid” or “You better hurry before all the good ones are gone” or “New studies show that 90% of women’s eggs are gone by age 30.”

Why is our singleness being treated like a terrorist threat? It’s like “Green – she’s dating someone. Whew! No chance of her winding up alone and desperate.” Or “Yellow – Uh-oh, another relationship just bit the dust and she’s the one that ended it! She’s 31 and choosing to be alone! Transition to Old Maid considered imminent!” Or “Red – She’s 34 and not willing to go out and mate with the nearest guy she sees even though her eggs are vanishing quicker than the Rooty Tooty Fresh & Fruity at IHOP! She’s actually taking her time and waiting for Mr. Right! DANGER! DANGER!”

I would like to propose that everyone put away the scare tactics and take a closer look at the lives of their over-30 and single counterparts. We might not have Prince Charming kneeling in front of us with a glass slipper, but we can afford to buy our own sassy stilettos and escort ourselves to the ball. We pay our own bills and file our own taxes and change our own oil (or we cruise on down to Jiffy Lube on Ladies Day for a half price oil change, but you get the point) and we make a million little independent choices each day without the support of a significant other. It takes guts and bravery and heart to walk a mile in a single girl’s shoes. And sometimes a fabulous pedicure.

At the end of the day, the Happily Ever After of a single girl might not look like everyone else’s…and maybe we’ve encountered more Mr. Right Nows than Mr. Rights…but we’re not gonna give in and settle for less than the best out of fright. So stop with the scare tactics and realize: Not everyone has to ride off into the sunset with a man. Some of us just want a tan. J