You Working on that MRS??

Summer is on the way, which means family BBQs and get-togethers. We'll have family reunions and girls luncheons. Being the oldest unmarried person in my family means that I will have to endure the most haunting question over and over: When will you get married??

When I was 16 and at my second cousin's wedding everyone in my entire extended family approached me stating that I was next. Then at my high school graduation party, my great uncle asked me if I was working on my MRS. My MRS?? What the heck is that. As stunned as I was at this, it took me a minute to realize what he meant - my marital status, not a college degree. Since then people have been asking me nonstop when I will be walking down the aisle. More often than not, I am not in a relationship when this happens and I have to go through the whole "I'm still single Aunt Mearl" charade. Then, looking very remorseful and concerned, they rack their brains trying to find someone suitable to set me up with be it that nice young man who mows the grass or their friend Marsha's grandson's roommate.

Even if I was seeing somebody, I wouldn't bring him into the lion's den and let him be bombarded with questions. I made that mistake once thinking that if they saw I was actually with someone, they would lay off. Quite the opposite actually. That is a punishment I wouldn't wish on an ex whom I hated... well, I can't say I'd rule that out completely.

They don't care about my wonderful career. Just the lack of baby making going on. I then have to parade through the throngs of aunts and cousins looking like the 20-something year old spinster that I am. They don't want to hear that I'm happily single and getting along quite fine without a dick to look after thank-you-very-much. Once I'm cornered by old ladies with puffed out hair and a mustache and my cousin with her baby that she had out of wedlock, my mother, being the beast she is, informs everyone that I do go on dates, they just never work out. Which is true. "Maybe if you lost a little bit of weight..." "Maybe if you did something different with your hair. Men like long hair." And my absolute favorite, "Maybe if you weren't so picky..." Well, maybe. But then again, if I wasn't searching for that special something, I'd already be married and living in a trailer park with 3 kids and 14 dogs all over the place talking about leaving the SOB that promised me the world. I'm sorry. That's not me. I'd like to know who I am before I commit myself to one person.

Is it such a crime to not be married? I think not. After I think that everyone has had their say there will be the Uncle that always gets way too intoxicated and goes around informing everyone that I don't need a man, I'm past my prime anyways.

All in all my family isn't that bad. They mean well, I think. It's just very annoying to be constantly pressured into rushing into a commitment with a man I haven't even met yet. I'm sorry people. I'm content. I'm independent. I can take care of myself. I hate to tell them this but I'm not going to settle, and I don't need a three letter prefix added to my name to know who I am. So Uncle Rob... am I working on my MRS?? I think not.