Celebrating Singlehood

This morning on my way to church, I was listening to Valentine on the radio for a few minutes and managed to catch a glimpse of a conversation that was all too pertinent in my life. They were discussing a [single] female acquaintance of theirs and how she was throwing herself a house-warming party and had registered herself for gifts.

All of them argued that this was strange, and allowed women to start calling in to laugh at this woman for her lack of etiquette, stating that the only time it is appropriate to do something like that is when you are getting married.

Now, if I heard correctly, this woman is a little older, and has decided on a life of singlehood. Therefore, she will not get married nor will she ever enjoy the parties, receiving of gifts, or the big celebrations that go into a wedding.

So what is the problem with her celebrating... herself?

I am very open about the fact that I have been single for a long time. My last real relationship was about three years ago, if you can even count relationships at the age of 19 "real." (It is funny to realize that even if three years doesn't seem that long, relationships at age 22 and being out of college are incredibly different than what they were when I was 19.)

Now, those who know me really well know that I celebrate my singlehood every year. You read correctly. Once a year I throw myself a celebration. I wear a dress and heels, and take myself out or get all my friends together to party! I figure that if I don't have a "special someone" to celebrate my beauty, why not celebrate it myself?

If I never get married, who else is going to celebrate for me? And who says I can't treat myself to special events and gifts like my married friends? Where is that written in the "etiquette" books?

I guess what it comes down to for me is that as a single woman, I have learned how to live on my own and rely on myself for most things. In fact, if/when a man does ever enter my life, I know I am going to have a strange adjustment period of learning how to allow myself to rely on him for some things.

But when you learn how to rely on yourself for so long, you learn that sometimes there won't be someone to celebrate with you.

So I will continue to celebrate myself. Because I am so worth celebrating. Every part of me is beautiful, strong, independent, passionate, and absolutely fabulous. If I never have a man to remind me of these things, I will be absolutely fine.

I applaud the single women throwing themselves house warming parties and registering for gifts. The single women taking themselves out to dinner. Dressing up solely for themselves. Learning how to cope with being independent every day in a world that tells us we need to have someone to share our lives with. To my single ladies, you go, girls. Seriously.

I hope that one day you will all be there when I throw myself a party for which I will register my fierce single self for gifts.

Screw "etiquette".