Last weekend Sarah and I took a road trip to see the countryside and get away for a three-day sanity break. We sped along the interstate and feasted on M&M's and popcorn while listening to the maxi-single of Sister Sledge's "We are Family." Somewhere in the middle of the twelve-minute club version our conversation switched from the joy of nature and freedom to the cruelty of marriage and family. Sarah and I come from vastly different childhoods. Mine was calm and demure with hardly a raised voice. While hers was filled with the the joy of divorce court and insanity pleas. Still, we survived it all and can look back now with fondness and nervous laughter.
As we looked to the future we envisioned very different families. I pictured a plasma TV, a condo and 2.5 poodles; she prefered a husband, a house and 2.5 children, which seems to be the general rule in modern day society. But, rules are made to be broken aren't they? I figure family life is like the speed limit -- more of a guide than a definitive. Still I have to wonder if we should all seek some sort of family security to keep us stable as we grow older, or will it be okay to be swinging single into our seventies? Will a seventy-year old singleton be frowned upon and deemed a "poor soul" for having never found a mate? What if solitude is enough for him? Can society appreciate a person's happiness even if it differs from the norm, or will there always be some standard used to judge the lives of others?
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