One Hand Clapping

Being single has its advantages for sure. Basically, once I leave work each day, I don't actually have to compromise on anything. Peeing with the bathroom door open or closed; wearing pants during dinner or not; sleeping with just socks on, etc...all up to me. As our super-smart president would say, i'm The Decider.

One disadvantage (besides the lack of companionship, conversation, and semi-regular lovemaking) is not having anybody who is fully obligated to listen to me bitch every night.

Now don't get me wrong; I bitch to plenty of people, but I gotta be careful and space it out. None of them HAS to answer when they see my number at 8 pm on a Tuesday. Some of them don't answer, actually. Yes, I've noticed.

If you live with someone, though (married or not-we don't judge here at Lurker Alley), the two of you have pretty much entered into a bitching covenant of some kind. You're both obligated to listen to the other person piss and moan about their life whenever they feel like it. And as payment, you get to bitch back whenever you feel like it.

It's harder to do that when you're single. I can't call the same friend or relative every night and cry about my job or the huge hole in my ceiling (seriously) or whatever. Eventually they're going to get sick of my depressing phone calls.

But if I try to spread the misery around to a bunch of different people, then none of them will know the full story of whatever I'm bitching about. So I'll either have to give them the full backstory (and have them hang up), or abbreviate the sorry-ass story.

So there's a reason you married and co-habituating folks should feel good about what you've got. You'll always have an ear to whine into.

And semi-regular lovemaking.