Da's Day

I think a lot about why I'm single and I come up with everything from my inability to make a good first impression to my loud laugh to my sarcastic and cynical demeanor. But one reason I come back to again and again is my father. I think the reason I am single is my father.

Today as I sat in the backseat of my parents' sedan, I watched them; not as my parents, but as a couple. They have been married for thirty years and while they've had their ups and downs (to put it lightly... to put it bluntly, their peaks and valleys), they are still together and they are still in love. My father crooned to his new Ricky Nelson CD, reached across the console to take my mother's hand, and warbled, "There'll never be anyone else but you for me. Never ever be, just couldn't be, anyone else but you." My mother rolled her eyes and wanted to be annoyed but instead she laughed and let him hold her hand. The reason I am single is because I wait for the man who will treat me as selflessly, as whole-heartedly, and as genuinely as my father has treated my mother for over thirty years. He still sends her flowers for no reason. He chooses a vegan restaurant over a steak house to satisfy her diet of choice. He takes her harsh words in stride and tries to put his own positive spin on everything. He is selfless to a fault.

And so I wait. And after awhile, the single-girl-waiting-game doesn't seem so bad. Because I hope that in passing up the frogs, I am holding out for a prince.