mytake, that is a beautiful poem.
I would like to thank cherry for all of your posts, because I now feel the need to relate what I’m going through. First of all, though, I’m not an “older” single. And the truth is, most of the difficulties I go through are things I have been going through most of my life, and have only a small connection to the fact that I’m single. I don’t think I should go into specifics, as some people here might be too horrified to know all the facts, but I’ll say this: I have extremely severe family problems, mostly due to one of my parents. I have had almost no support at all from my community. They all don’t want to get involved in my family’s situation. I have no Shul. I get no support from my neighbors. We have very little money. Let’s just say that NO ONE in their right mind would want to marry into my family. The only thing I have going for myself is: myself. I know this. And therefore, I make sure to have a wonderful personality, be responsible, giving, caring, sensitive, and try to stay positive. I know that these character traits are the only thing I have going for me in a prospective match. I have nothing else.
I have tried to come up with theories why I have to be in the situation I’m in. and the one I’m sticking with now, though it may sound arrogant, is this: I know I have the best personality and character traits possible. Therefore, if G-d had given me a proper family, or money, or supportive friends and neighbors, it almost wouldn’t be fair. I would have too much good. So G-d had to level it out. I don’t know if this is the right way to look at it, but it works for me right now. I hope this helped for any other single going through something similar. I encourage others to take part in this discussion, and I would appreciate support from anyone here.