At 66, I'm happy being single. I love hiking, friendships, volunteering and being in charge of my life. I have fun every day.

I don't want to get married or live with a man. Men are too much work. My female friends are sick of their husbands.

With online dating, I met 16 middle-aged men who never learned to cook. These man-childs wanted a mommy to take care of them- doing all of the meal planning, cooking and housework- and great sex. No, thanks. Everyone loves the magic words, "Dinner is served."

In his book, I'll Mature When I'm Dead, Dave Barry wrote:

"My wife believes that men tend to have insanely high physical standards regarding the kind of woman they're willing to settle for. She notes than a middle-aged man can have tarantula-grade nose hair, body odor that can cause migrating geese to change course, and enough spare tissue to form a whole, new, middle-aged man, but this man still believes that he is physically-qualified to date Scarlett Johansson.

"What's wrong with these men?" my wife asks purely rhetorically. "Don't they have mirrors?"

After reading a bunch of these comments, it seems that being "single" is not the same as being "alone" - at least for many of you. And I know from reading posts from many of you who describe yourselves as "single", that you also have some intimacy, and some sex, with others. I'm struggling to wrap my head around this.

It has always been my experience that to find someone who is willing to be intimate with me, I am expected to forfeit my privacy, my independence, my time, my freedom.

How is it that so many of you are (apparently) not subject to those restrictions? Am I missing something?

She's young and beautiful. She has plenty of time. For those of us who are neither young nor beautiful, self-partnering sounds like another name for growing old alone.

New title perhaps, but not a new concept. Making the most of who you are. YOU - as you are !

Acceptance. Independence. Growth. Self learning. Self love. Good stuff !

Excellent thought be happy with yourself first then see what happens . A partner should compliment you and vice versa , each becoming a better whole and thinking about the other first

I think that describes me to a T! I’m happily un-partnered ...or self-partnered if that is the current description. I was once happily married ...or partnered, but life changes and I’ve found a new happiness and contentment in being wholly in charge of my own life.

This is great! I am single, and I am not unhappy at all. I don't feel unfulfilled at all. It would be lovely to have someone in my life again, some day. But if not, I am whole just as I am. And I am not saying this is easy. It is not. I work hard to have a fulfilling life and it has paid off. If I meet someone it would be the icing on the cake so to speak, not the cake itself.

I love this!

Being single has been demonized, with the assumption that there must be something wrong with you when you choose to remain solo. This is sometimes due to the options presented or available, not that one is impossible to live with or impossibly picky.

I ran into an acquaintance a few years ago, when I was unattached, who asked if I was married yet. He was more shocked, almost disgusted, when I answered no and also no to his follow up question, "you mean you've never been married.. not even divorced?"
In his view, after some clarification, it was better to be divorced than never married.

Alrighty.

As a youngster I made that decision. I had no one to depend on. It was the only way.