Dear Jewish Fairy Godmother:

I’m single. I’m happy being single. Everyone I know is married and
thinks I should be too. They keep trying to fix me up on dates, inviting
me to dinner parties, tell me success stories about people who married
later in life and died happily ever, reunited with their lost true loves
from high school, etc etc etc etc etc ad nauseum. I did not have a true
love in high school that I have longed for over the years. Instead, I
supported two deadbeats for the better part of thirty years in two
marriages, thankfully both over, though at great cost. I’ve lived
happily alone for the past ten and travelled, gone on vacations, and
generally had a much happier and more fulfilling life. What my friends
do not know is that I have also been in a mutually consenting friends-
with-benefits relationship with a man whose wife is institutionalized
with Alzheimer’s. Because of our social standing we decided it was
nobody’s business but our own. When people say, with sincerity,
“You’d be sooo much happier with companionship….” and then wink at
me, I want to tell them, but I’ve been quiet. Other than saying “I love
my life,” what can I do?

Leave Me Alone

 
Dear Leave Me Alone:

You’re on the right track with re-inventing your life after two bad
marriages. Many women would crawl into bed and pull the covers over
their head and never go out again. The fact that you are both socially
and sexually active, and seem happy and content is a statement about
your good emotional health and ability to make good choices. That it’s
also good for your wallet is just an added bonus.

 
Tell your friends that you have taken a complete inventory of our life,
from fiscal to sexual. Say that you’re happy with every aspect of your
life, except perhaps needing to lose ten pounds, getting someone to do
your weeding, or finding a better brand of toothpaste. You can change
either of those latter two, but make them playful and distracting. Don’t
put the emphasis on sex, but if they come back with a quizzical inquiry
about you being sexually happy, say that while you’re not a prude you
don’t want to compare bedroom notes with anyone. Try to say that
with a straight face. You might practice this little speech in the
morrow, perhaps after a glass or two of wine. But no matter what,
keep smiling like the Mona Lisa. If they guess at why, you can still
keep mum about whom. And if life changes down the line, they can
dance at your next wedding or just be happy for you.