One thing that I've been more aware of is the family culture. It's one thing to be friends with married couples and families as a single person, but something is...missing in that friendship. Families have a culture that is both unique to each family, yet also serves as a common ground between families. It doesn't matter if you're a couple just starting out as man and wife, or if you've been married for decades and are now at the point where you're spoiling grandchildren, you share something with other families that single people just can't take a part in. We're all very aware of it, but it becomes more evident each time you're with other families and there happens to be single people present. We like to think of people in units...either a family, or a couple, so single people are a bit more complicated and usually end up getting lumped with other singles.
My point in writing about this is simply to process this feeling. Today, I was with tons of foster families and hopeful foster families, and the family culture was just overwhelming. My singleness was equally overwhelming. This culture (at least from an outsider's point of view) says, "we're going through the same things; having a family is hard, trying, funny, heart-breaking, absolutely CRAZY....and SO worth it! Thank goodness we're not single, huh?" There are couples/families, I LOVE being around, and then there are couples/families that seem to completely focus their energies on making singles aware (and shameful of) their singleness...they seem to say...we found someone...why couldn't you? Thankfully, I wasn't around any of the later type of couples/families.
1 comment:
Sadness that you left Xanga!!! I hope you are doing well. We are good! Stacey is good! The pregnancy is going well. She is getting bigger, of course. God bless you!
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