
Please may I join the list too?
It is really easy to feel quite sad about it all if you see lots of people you know getting married with full Catholic Mass when you know full well that they have been living together / use contraception / have had several sexual partners before and you are alone because you have refused to compromise yourself or your beliefs.
Of course, the Christian thing to do is to rejoice that these people are making an effort to bring the Church into their lives and give them the benefit of the doubt about having been to confession and being resolved to start a new life together.
Somebody really upset me yesterday. She has been married before and after living with her partner, they married in a civil ceremony and now have a little boy. She was berating me for not understanding how difficult the role of motherhood is. I felt like saying ‘if only I had the chance!’

I could do what she has done: I am sure I would be very good at living in sin if that is what I wanted to do

- but while I still believe it is God’s will for me to help create a happy family unit, I do not believe the way to achieve that is through being untrue to myself to begin with.)
I am starting to get really down about it sometimes, because unless you are actually called to a single life (maybe even if you are?) the loneliness and feelings of rejection are always there. I do not think this feeling is making me a better person, or a nicer person. I try to make my life full and being realistic, I have probably the largest network of friends of anyone I know, but it isn’t quite the same, is it?
I feel I have lived by myself a long time. I have proved to myself and others that I can support myself and I can lead a full life. I enjoy the world and I marvel at the world - but I want to share my love with someone special who will help me become a better person too, by loving me in return. Now that I finally feel I have something to ‘bring’ to a relationship and I am not looking to fulfil a fantasy about a big fancy wedding, or to cut my utility bills(!) it seems I’ve missed out!
Another hurtful thing someone said to me is ‘you’ve got your own business and a nice house - you don’t actually need anyone, do you?’ Well, yes, I do! But to me, marrying for financial security is little better than prostitution
I can’t be the only one to feel like this, can I?!